On Sunday, 13.08.2006 at 5pm the ball gets rolling again! Werder Bremen begin their Bundesliga campaign with a north German derby against Hanover 96. It will be the 36th class between the two in the top flight of German football.
On Sunday, 13.08.2006 at 5pm the ball gets rolling again! Werder Bremen begin their Bundesliga campaign with a north German derby against Hanover 96. It will be the 36th class between the two in the top flight of German football.
On Sunday, 13.08.2006 at 5pm the ball gets rolling again! Werder Bremen begin their Bundesliga campaign with a north German derby against Hanover 96. It will be the 36th class between the two in the top flight of German football.
Werders record against the Lower Saxon side could hardly be better. On 19 occasions the Green-Whites took full points with ‘96’ only winning seven of their previous ties. Bremen have proven particularly successful away from home and haven’t returned to the Weser pointless from Hanover in the last ten meetings. To be exact, the “Roten” (Reds) last recorded a win against Werder 34 years ago. The only possible consolation for Hanover being the fact that they played out a 0:0 draw at the AWD Arena last season, costing the Green-Whites some valuable points.
For Werder, the season begins with a very clear goal: “We want to win the championship and there’s no shame in that. We must show in our first game that we intend to do that”, announced Patrick Owomoyela. The 26 year old striker sees no disadvantage in the 2006/2007 season beginning with an away derby: “That’s a very special challenge. We can prove ourselves right away and register our expectations.” Captain Frank Baumann is also aware of the importance of the tie: “We definitely want to start with a win.”
Despite Werder’s optimism they also know that Hanover will be no push-over: “The leagues opening game always has a question mark, we’ll have to be top fit from the outset”, warned Baumann. Head coach Thomas Schaaf is also expecting a strong resistance from the Hanover side: “They will do everything in their power to make a good start to the season too. We saw last season that ‘96’ are not an easy side to play against so we’ll have to really get stuck in if we’re to be successful”, admitted the 46 year old.
Contrary to Werder, who had the opportunity to play in a competitive atmosphere during the league cup competition, Sunday’s game will be Hanovers first obligatory game. The ‘Roten’ lost their last friendly on Tuesday, 08.08.2006 against OFI Crete. The 2:0 defeat by the Greek’s was also the first game they lost in their pre-season programme during which they played SSC Naples (3:3), USC Palermo (4:1) and Aston Villa (0:0).
Ready to face Werder on Sunday will be a highly motivated Frank Fahrenhorst. The defender left the Weser and headed towards the Leine during the week: “Of course that will be something special and I wish him all the best for his future, just not on Sunday”, joked ex-team mate Patrick Owomoyela. Aside from Fahrenhorst, Hanover have taken on a total of eight new players for the new season. Christoffer Andersson (Lillestrøm SK), Arnold Jan Bruggink (SC Heerenveen), Szabolcs Huszti (FC Metz), Erik Jendrisek (MFK Ruzomberok), Timo Nagi (Wacker Burghausen), Gunnar Heidar Thorvaldsson (Halmstads BK) sowie Ferhat Bikmaz and Tobia Willers from their own youth side have all joined the ranks. Departures have also been a feature for '96' with Per Mertesacker in the stand to watch his first game as a Werder player. Ex-Werder man Christoph Dabrowski (VfL Bochum) and Mohamadou Idrissou (MSV Duisburg) have also left the club.
