On Sunday, 23.07.2006 at 6pm Werder Bremen will take on Greek first division side Olympiakos Piräus in a friendly in Schruns, Austria (werder.de offers a live ticker on the match).
On Sunday, 23.07.2006 at 6pm Werder Bremen will take on Greek first division side Olympiakos Piräus in a friendly in Schruns, Austria (werder.de offers a live ticker on the match).
On Sunday, 23.07.2006 at 6pm Werder Bremen will take on Greek first division side Olympiakos Piräus in a friendly in Schruns, Austria (werder.de offers a live ticker on the match). On the back of five successful pre-season friendlies, with no goals conceeded, the test against the current Greek champions will most likely be the toughest yet. It will be the Green-Whites first ever clash with the Greek giants.
"olympiakos Piräus will undoubtably be our toughest opponents to date", expects trainer Thomas Schaaf who awaits a difficult tie. "We have a very experienced team to face. Their success and regular Champions League participation speaks for themselves."
The Greek side who are also currently preparing in Austria have so far played RSC Anderlecht and FK Jablonec. Against the Belgian champions they lost 2:1 but beat the Serbs 2:0. Werder face the side with the record number of Greek titles under their belts and have a whopping 14 full internationals in their ranks. Alone between 1997 and 2006, Piräus won nine of their, in total, 34 league championship titles. They've had a similar success in the Greek cup with titles number 21 and 22 coming in 2005 and 2006. The Greek giants have had somewhat less reason to celebrate in the Champions League. In spite of their regular participation they have rarely, as last season, survived the group stage. Last seasons Champions League disappointment was salvaged in some way though with a final day 2:1 win against the 'Old Lady' Real Madrid.
The absolute star of Norwegian trainer Trond Sollied's team is the Brazilian Rivaldo. The World and European Footballer of the Year 1999 enters his final season as a professional footballer which he announced just this week. The now 34 year old won the World Cup with Brazil in 2002, scoring an impressive five goals along the way. Four years previously he had played a World Cup final but went down 3:0 to hosts France. During his career he has also won the Copa América, the Champions League and World Club title with AC Milan as well as the Italian (Milan) and Spanish (Barcelona) championships.
Johnnie Muldoon
