It is quite curious that Werder should be faced with their arch rivals Bayer Munich in the very first competitive game of the season on Saturday, 21.07.2007 at 6pm in the LTU-Arena Dusseldorf.
It is quite curious that Werder should be faced with their arch rivals Bayer Munich in the very first competitive game of the season on Saturday, 21.07.2007 at 6pm in the LTU-Arena Dusseldorf.
It is quite curious that Werder should be faced with their arch rivals Bayern Munich in the very first competitive game of the season on Saturday, 21.07.2007 at 6pm in the LTU-Arena Dusseldorf. The occasion is the quarter final of the Premiere League Cup and it will be a clash between two clubs who have been very much the prominent duo in the press during the football-less summer period.
An early reunion with Miroslav Klose
Just a month since his somewhat controversial transfer to Bayern Munich, Miroslav Klose will be meeting up with his ex-team mates again: “I’m delighted the opportunity has arisen so quickly”, said Klose, “The earlier the better, the emotions are still there.” At the end of June, after three years of Werder Bremen and some complicated negotiations, Klose eventually made his move to the Isar. In five friendly games for his new club, the German international has scored eight times so far, albeit against extremely weak opposition. Klose is the last of eight major signings that the Bavarian club have made this summer. The reason for Bayern’s mega spending spree was a very disappointing 2006/2007 season. In the Champions League they were categorically shown their limitations by Italian giants AC Milan, in the DFB Cup there was an early exit at the hands of Alemannia Aachen whilst in the Bundesliga, VfB Stuttgart, FC Schalke 04 and Werder Bremen all finished above them. After ten consecutive years of Champions League football, this season Bayern will have to settle for UEFA Cup participation.
To help ensure that this would be a one-off occurance, FC Bayern have gone on the offensive with their transfer politics and made some hefty investments. Trainer Ottmar Hitzfeld has put a team together of star names with Luca Toni (from AC Florenz), Franck Ribéry (Olympique Marseille), Zé Roberto (FC Santos), José Sosa (Estudiantes de La Plata), Jan Schlaudraff (Alemannia Aachen), Marcell Jansen (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Hamit Altintop (FC Schalke 04) and then Miroslav Klose being added to the squad this summer alone.
The new names were also necessary though to fill the gaps left by the departing figures of Roy Makaay (Feyenoord Rotterdam), Claudio Pizarro (FC Chelsea), Hasan Salihamidzic (Juventus Turin), Owen Hargreaves (Manchester United), Ali Karimi (Katar) und Andreas Görlitz (Karlsruher SC).
In addition, Mehmet Scholl has hung up his boots and left a difficult whole to fill in the team. There is no denying the quality of the new Bayern team on paper but titles are an absolute must: “I’ve come here because I want to win everything”, explained World Cup runner-up Franck Ribéry. Team manager Uli Hoeneß added: “We are under an enormous amount of pressure and will be the hunted side from the outset.”
Werder unbeaten by Bayern in four meetings
Werder Bremen would very much like to offer FCB a taste of just what they will expect this season when the pair clash on Saturday. Twice, Bayern beat Werder in the League Cup final (2:1 in 1998, 3:2 in 2004) but last season Bremen took their revenge, winning the trophy in Leipzig 2:0 thanks to two goals from Ivan Klasnic. It was the start of a successful season for Werder who again beat Bayern in the Bundesliga in Bremen on match day eight (3:1). The return leg in the Bavarian capital finished 1:1. With their 3:0 in during the 2005/2006 season, Werder are now four games without defeat against their arch rivals from the south of Germany.
Preparations for the game have not exactly gone according to plan for either side. Both lost their most recent friendly games (Werder 2:3 to Liverpool, Bayern 1:2 to Borussia Mönchengladbach) and both sides have the same problem currently of having reduced squads due to injury problems. In Bremen, all hopes are lying with the possibility of Per Mertesacker being fit again by Saturday but as yet he has just rejoined his colleagues in training. Holidays, injuries and international duty are currently costing Werder eight further players. It’s a similar situation in Munich with super star Luca Toni definitely out with a knee injury. Franvk Ribéry in suffering from muscular difficulties whilst Mark van Bommel has an Achilles problem. Aside from them, Hitzfeld will have to make do without the services of José Ernesto Sosa, Lukas Podolski, Jan Schlaudraff, Valieren Ismael and Willy Sagnol through injury. Julios dos Santos and Roque Santa Cruz, just like Werder’s Naldo and Diego, are still on holiday after their Copa America participation.
Despite the personnel issues, the game remains an important test for both sides with a view to the rest of the season. With three weeks to go before the season begins, this is the chance to gain some self-confidence and set down gauntlet for what’s to come. Thomas Schaaf warned: “You’ve got to remember this game is being played right in the middle of pre-season preparations. There are still a lot of things being tried out and not every player is up to full strength.” The optimal outcome for the Werder coach would be a semi final meeting with VfB Stuttgart on Wednesday, 25th July 2007 at 8:30pm.
Johnnie Muldoon
