When Werder Bremen take to the pitch on Tuesday, 24.07.2007 at 7pm in the Hermann-Löns-Stadion against second division SC Paderborn 07, the Green-Whites will be expecting a very different calibre of team from the Bayern Munich squad which beat them 4:1 on Saturday in the League Cup. Still, Paderborn are as yet unbeaten in their pre-season preparations. They have added to their squad from last season and will go into the friendly against Werder highly motivated.
Friendlies galore for Paderborn
Last season, SCP finished in eleventh place in the second division and have held their own for the third season on the trot since being promoted to the 2nd Bundesliga. Trainer Holgar Fach’s men began their pre-season preparations a week before Thomas Schaaf and his men got going, on 25.06.2007. They will begin this season’s campaign against Kickers Offenbach on Sunday, 12.08.2007 but so far Fach has been keeping his men busy. The friendly against Werder will the ninth that the Black-and-Blues have played since the start of training. So far they have played SV Marienloh (12:0), Löhner-City-Selection (12:1), DJK Kleinberg (6:0), Preußen Münster (3:2), TuS Heeslingen (4:0), Hammer SpVgg (6:4), SpVgg 02 Velbert (1:1) and most recently against VfB Lübeck (1:1). The unbeaten run will have instilled confidence in the Paderborn side despite having gathered their results against lower class sides.
Ten new recruits, striker search continues
Trainer Holger Fach has been filing on his squad ahead of the clash against the Bundesliga side. Between the 11.07.2007 and 20.07.2007, Paderborn served up a trainings camp in Schneverdingen with the plan being to integrate the new signings into the team. Ten new men including Alexander Bade (VfL Bochum), Danko Boskovic, Thomas Kläasener (both RW Essen) and David Siradze (Erzgebirge Aue) will join up with the more familiar faces of Nebojsa Krupnikovic and Andrew Sinkala to add more depth to the side.
SCP 07 are having similar problems to Werder Bremen as far as injuries are concerned. The loss of team captain René Müller has been a particular blow to the club in their centenary year. The clubs top scorer over the last two seasons is suffering from a sciatic nerve root tear which will see him out of action for the foreseeable future. Coach Fach has the options of Georgian internationals Siradze and Boskovic up front but a true poacher is still missing from his line-up. One possible candidate is Armenia Bielefeld’s Abdelaziz Ahanfouf, whose name has been connected with Paderborn of late.
Return of some familiar faces
The clash between Werder and Paderborn would have been a reunion for Patrick Owomoyela with some old familiar faces with whom he played until 2003 but the Werder full-back will have to pass on the tie through injury. He’s not the only player who will be familiar to both clubs, Markus Krösche moved to the Black and Blues from Werder’s youth team in 2001 – in 1999 he celebrated winning the German ‘U18’ championships with one Tim Borowski.
There haven’t been many positive personnel developments on the Bremen side either. Aside from Diego, Naldo (on holiday after the Copa America), Patrick Owomoyela (thigh injury), Petri Pasanen (Achilles problem), Aaron Hunt (knee injury), Hugo Almeida (ankle problem) and Daniel Jensen (groin injury), on Monday Leon Andreasen had to pull out of training with a muscular problem. Thomas Schaaf will have one player returning with Martin Harnik, who has returned from the ‘U20’ World Cup in Canada. The youngster will arrive on Tuesday afternoon and immediately join up with Thomas Schaaf’s squad.