Bremen Ready To Brake Bayern

First Team
Friday, 17.08.2007 / 13:35

It’s a return to a familiar rhythm for Werder Bremen’s players. Just recovered from European competition and Dinamo Zagreb and the Bundesliga awaits with Bayern Munich as the next opponent.

It’s a return to a familiar rhythm for Werder Bremen’s players. Just recovered from European competition and Dinamo Zagreb and the Bundesliga awaits with Bayern Munich as the next opponent. On Saturday, 18.08.2007 at 3:30pm, the current league leaders and last seasons fourth side visit the Weser Stadium. Following their passed test against Dinamo, the Green-Whites will be looking to start their campaign rolling in the national competition against their arch rivals. “We will have to raise our game from match to match”, demanded Thomas Schaaf, “Which means against FC Bayern too.” It’s time for Werder to rise to the occasion and put aside the defeat from a month ago. In the quarter final of the League Cup, Bayern Munich left Schaaf’s men little chance in Dusseldorf and despite Borowski giving Werder the lead, Bayern hit back eventually winning the tie 4:1. Schaaf doesn’t find that result all negative: “We got to see exactly how we shouldn’t do things in that game and we have that experience in mind still.” Per Mertesacker is equally determined to set things straight: “We know a lot more about Bayern since the league cup. They are dangerous and we have to withstand that”, declared the defender.

 

Many new parts – but a perfectly functioning machine

 

The league cup game was the first real chance for trainer Otmar Hitzfeld to get a good look at his newly overhauled side. The names have all been mentioned often enough nut just to re-cap – Makaay, Hargreaves, Karimi, Pizarro, Görlitz, Dos Santos, Salihamidzic, Scholl and Santa Cruz have departed whilst Altintop, Jansen, Ribéry, Schlaudraff, Sosa, Toni, Zé Roberto and not least Klose have filled the empty spaces. There is absolutely no need to discuss the quality of the new signings. Not many could have imagined that with so many new faces that the team would gel so quickly and effectively with the plan to bring success back to Munich. So far the success has been limited (a 1:0 league cup final win against Schalke thanks to a Klose goal) but the style of football been played by Hitzfeld’s men has caught the attention of everyone watching. Alongside Werder and Schalke the Red-and-Whites have also beaten league title holders VfB Stuttgart (league cup semi final) 2:0 and last weekend started the Bundesliga with a 3:0 win against Hansa Rostock. Bayern won that particular tie without allowing their guests a single genuine attempt on goal. By way of proving their point both Luca Toni and Miroslav Klose (2) scored to give Bayern the three points.

 

Strange that such a perfectly oiled machine only days before struggled so badly against relegated second division side Wacker Burghausen in the DFB Cup. In the 79th minute, Klose equalised to cancel out the earlier Wacker goal and force the game into extra time and eventually penalties. Bayern were all but out before Wacker blew match ball from the spot and allowed Bayern a second chance – which they gladly took. Altintop, Demichelis and Sosa could all be very thankful to veteran keeper Oliver Kahn for sparing their blushes. Since the cup tie, Hitzfeld’s men have also been beaten in two friendly games (RCD Mallorca 0:3, FC Barcelona 0:1). Club chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge set out the teams stall ahead of the tie in Bremen announcing: “In recent years the bar has been raised and difficult to reach. A win would be perfect but not losing would also be okay.”

 

Plus points for Werder

 

Bayern have only managed to win one of their last seven games at the Weser Stadium (2:1 in October 2004). Even with that in mind, captain Frank Baumann considers his opponents to have their noses in front but doesn’t find that at all troubling: “We are in a slight underdog roll but maybe that’s not a bad thing that we are not the favourites at the moment. That could even be an advantage”. Per Mertesacker agrees: “Why should we be worried? On the contrary, we are looking forward to the game. There will surely be a match taking place here.”

 

T the end of the day, Werder have no reason to wish to run and hide. Frank Baumann can see a number of reasons for his side to be confident – such as the quality within the team: “We have a strong squad too. Despite the number of injuries, we had two players on the bench against Zagreb who came into the game and turned it in our favour. We are slowly reaching the necessary fitness levels too. As could be seen against Zagreb, we were in a position to raise our game in the second half. Maybe that was exactly what we needed – a game that demanded passion, aggression and a will to win on our behalf. The truth is that we can’t play beautiful football over ninety minutes right at the moment.” The captain had calming words for the fans too: “We needed four or five games last season to really find our feet and play the kind of football that we won so much praise for in the first half of the season.” Stopping the so highly handled Bayern in their tracks would also deserve some praise. And that after two match days.

 

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