For one club it’s the ‚Match of the Season’, for the other it’s just another ‘Friendly’. That is the situation prior to Werder’s next tie with Rot-Weiß Erfurt.
For one club it’s the ‚Match of the Season’, for the other it’s just another ‘Friendly’. That is the situation prior to Werder’s next tie with Rot-Weiß Erfurt.
For one club it’s the ‚Match of the Season’, for the other it’s just another ‘Friendly’. That is the situation prior to Werder’s next tie with Rot-Weiß Erfurt. So long as ‘Hurricane Kyrill’ doesn’t put paid to the planned game, then the two should clash on Friday, 10.01.2007 at 7:15pm. The match will be televised by German sport channel DSF.
‘Prodigal son’ Clemens Fritzs returns to his home town
Just a normal friendly? Not for Clemens Fritz it isn’t. Werder’s full-back is originally from Erfurt and spent his early career until 1997 and again from 1999 to 2001 as a Rot-Weiß player. The 26year old is looking forward to his return to his home town in particular as there are still a number of his old acquaintances still at the club. “I’m still in contact with Tom Bertram, Ronny Hebestreit and Silvio Pätz. I know Thorsten Görke from my time at VfB Leipzig”, explained Fritz to the “Thüringische Landeszeitung” (local newspaper).
Klose out of the tie
The German international did remark that the game in itself has no particularly special meaning for him: “It’s just a friendly game but we do want to win it. That is our goal. It’s just about trimming the edges for us now after our training camp in Turkey.” Which Green-White players will be able to take part in the tie was still unclear on Thursday. Aside from top scorer Miroslav Klose, who is suffering with a groin problem, Hugo Almeida and Naldo both rested up on Thursday and are questionable for involvement on Friday.
Reunion with Brückner and Pekrul
Interestingly from a Werder point of view, there will also be a reunion with a couple of well known faces as the Erfurt club have two ex-Bremen players in their squad. Daniel Brückner has been at Rot-Weiß for six months now whilst Viktor Pekrul joined the club just days ago. Until summer 2006, both players were involved in the Werder Bremen Under 23 set up. Whilst the 24 year old Pekrul had been without a club since then, Brückner managed the immediate inclusion in the first eleven in Thuringen and was a vital pillar in the stability of Erfurt’s successes.
The team from trainer and ex-professional Pavel Dotchev (eight Bundesliga games for Hamburg SV) having made a poor start to the season have since developed into the surprise packet of the regional league, rising to third place in the league by the winter break – and level on points with the second placed team, who are promoted to the Bundesliga’s second division. Rot-Weiß play their games at the Steigerwald Stadium, which due t the construction of a VIP-Tent will have a reduced capacity of 16,000 for the Werder game (usual capacity 20,000).
Tickets at the gate
Fans considering a last minute trip to the game can still pick up tickets at the gate. Tickets for the away end cost €7,50 and can be obtained at the counters “Süd” and “Gäste”.
