In eleven days time, Werder Bremen will play their first competitive game of the season. On Tuesday, 01.08.2006 at 8:30pm, the Green-Whites will play either Hamburg SV or Hertha BSC Berlin in the League Cup semi-final.
In eleven days time, Werder Bremen will play their first competitive game of the season. On Tuesday, 01.08.2006 at 8:30pm, the Green-Whites will play either Hamburg SV or Hertha BSC Berlin in the League Cup semi-final.
In eleven days time, Werder Bremen will play their first competitive game of the season. On Tuesday, 01.08.2006 at 8:30pm, the Green-Whites will play either Hamburg SV or Hertha BSC Berlin in the League Cup semi-final. The question remains, how much will the result of this game effect the run of the them following season? Or is the game just a friendly under competitive circumstances? Does the much talked about 'League Cup Curse' really exist and come to haunt the teams who start the season well?
A look into the statistics from the last nine years could well help here and at first glance the 'League Cup Curse' would appear to be no more than a myth. During this period FC Bayer Munich have won both League Cup and Championship four times. It would appear that only the Munich side have cracked the code as no other club have managed it thus far. Just as well for Werder that Torsten Frings, who won the cup with Bayern two years ago, is available to lend some tips to his new team-mates.
Hamburg SV really suffered back in the 2003/2004 season. Prior to the first game of the season HSV celebrated their League Cup win but subsequently found themselves out of the title reckoning very ealy on, finishing the season back in eight place making HSV the worst placed League Cup winnes on record. To add insult to Hamburg injury, that was to be the season that northern rivals Werder Bremen did the league and DFB cup double.
Non-Bavarian League cup winners haven't had much more luck though. In the other seasons, the league cup winners were barren of any other success. In 2001/2002 Hertha ran in fourth but after their league cup success the following year finished the season in fifth. last years winners FC Schalke 04, finished in fourth and missed out on Champions League qualification.
There is one positive not for the winners of the league cup in the last nine years though. On only one occassion has the winner finished behind the beaten finalist in the league. HSV were here also the exception, then they beat Dortmund in the final but finished two places behind the Yellow-Blacks who finished the season in sixth.
There have all too often followed horrible surprises for the beaten finalists during the subsequent season. VfB Stuttgart know that only too well. The Swabish side never won any of their three final appearances and in 1997/1998 had to make do with a crushing eleventh place in the Bundesliga table - the worst placing for a finalist to date. Last seasons ninth place didn't look all that much better though.
Werder Bremen have also suffered their post League Cup headaches. In 1999, the Green-Whites were narrowly beaten 2:1 by Bayern in the final and could only hang on to ninth place in the table that season - the worst position in the Schaaf/Allofs era. Werder were also participants in probably the best ever League cup final too though with a stunning 3:2 defeat, again to Munich, in 2004 and then finished third behind Torsten Frings then club.
It's maybe for that reason that despite the figures, coach Thomas Schaaf still puts a lot of hope in winning the cup. For the trainer it's an important game before the first league game proper. "A good result woul improve self-confidence yet further. We have a challenging starting programme in the Bundesliga season and we must be ready from the outset. or that reason it would surely be good to go into the season on a positive note."
Johnnie Muldoon
