Werder Bremen have gotten off to a perfect start in the 2005/2006 Bundesliga season. Following last weks 5:2 home win over Armenia Bielefeld, Werder travelled to Mainz on the second match day to win 2:0. Once again it was the K&K strike force who struck the killer blows with Ivan Klasnic (21') and Miroslav Klose (62') who did what they do best to give Werder the lead and second place in the table behind Bayern who top the table on goal difference.
Coach Thomas Schaaf made just two changes to the side which lost in the Champions League qualifier in Basel with Patrick Owomoyela and Christian Schulzreplacing Ümit Davala and Jelle van Damme. The home side made the brighter start in a relatively evenly matched opening phase. Andi Reinke pulled off a good save from a vicious Antonio da Silva free kick after eleven minutes and was on hand again to save a header from Nikolce Noveski three minutes later.
Klasnic fries Friedrich to give Werder the lead
It took Werder some twenty minutes to launch their first attack on the Mainz goal but referee Thorsten Kinhöfer called Tim Borowski off-side after he picked up a through ball from Johan Micoud. Werder were now awake and just a minute after their first attack Miroslav Klose slipped Ivan Klasnic through. The Croatian start turner his marker Manuel Friedrich brilliantly and fired his shot into the bottom right hand corner from 18 yards, 0:1 for Werder. With the sides evenly matched, the game swung back and forth with Klasnic testing Timo Wache and at the other end Christoph Barbatz crashed a shot over the crossbar. Torsten Frings, again as captain for the injured Frank Baumann proved once again the power which he possess in his shot testing the Mainz keeper with a deflected drive. Fabian Gerber had the best chance for the home side just on half time. The Mainz midfielder collected a neat back heel from Benjamin Auer and cracked a shot against the left upright.
Kloses' decider
The tempo continued after the break with Mainz twice coming close to equalising only to be denied at the last by a Green-White defender. Firstly Reinke turned Gerbers shot away for a corner (59') and then Christian Schulz blocked a close range effore from Auer (60'). Werder then kept cool and showed their superior cleverness. Christian Schulz set through Tim Borowski who made a direct pass to Miroslav Klose. The German international clipped the ball cleverly past the advancing Wache to make it 2:0 for the visitors (62'). Werder could rest on their lead for the rest of the game with Mainzer efforts amounting to little.
Tim Borowski (72'), Johan Micoud (73') and a headed effort from substitute Nelson Valdez all could have increased the Bremen difference to a flatteringly undeserved scoreline. A team effort made the difference on the day and last seasons loss and draw against Mainz are definately now just things of the past.