On Wednesday, 27.07.2006 at 6pm, Werder Bremen will play the last of their three friendlies in Austria. After a win against Turkish first division side Ankaragücü (2:0) and a 4:0 defeat by Greek champions Olympiakos Piräus, the Green-Whites now face 1. FC Kaiserslautern. The game is one that Werder very much want to win: "We want to repeat the performances we displayed in our earlier friendlies and finish the trainings camp with a win", explained head coach Thomas Schaaf.
The difference between Lautern and Werder last season was a massive 37 points. Whilst Werder Bremen qualified for the Champions League, the south German side had to deal with the drop into the second division. Despite the huge point difference the two clashes with Lautern finished evenly balanced. Werder crushed the 'Red Devils' 5:1 in front of their own fans at the Fritz-Walter-Stadium but then suffered a 2:0 defeat in the return game at the Weser Stadium. The history books are also very evenly balanced with both sides have won 36 games each against each other in their 93 meetings down the years, the other 21 draws.
Kaiserslautern play the ninth game of their pre-season preparations and have yet to be beaten. So far they've played VfL Kirchheim/Teck (4:0), Austrian second division side SV Stadtwerke Kapfenberg (5:3), Red Bull Salzburg (2:2), non-league ATSV Wattenheim (16:0), a regional selection (11:1), the regional league side SV Wehen (2:1), non league FSV Oggersheim (3:1) as well as Bahrains national team (2:0).
Three days after their game with Werder Bremen the team from the Pfalz have a European giant on their hands. In Switzerland they will play 2005 Champions League winners Liverpool FC. The club have bolstered the squad with a number of new signings including Noureddine Daham (MC Algier), an Algerian international, the Argentinian Nicolas Pavlovic (Saturn Ramenskoje), Ismaël Bouzid (Mouloudia Club Alger), Aimen Demai (1. FC Saarbrücken), Moussa Quattara (Legia Warschau), Ricardo Villar (Chunnam Dragons), Tamas Hajnal (St. Truiden), Stefan Lexa (Eintracht Frankfurt), Sven Müller (1. FC Nürnberg) and Finnland's Aki Riikilahti (Crystal Palace) as well as a number of players from their own Under 23 side. Trainer Wolfgang Wolf commented on their goals for the season: "We want to make third place and be directly promoted to the Bundesliga."