The German cup winners await – and they have a bone to pick with Werder. 1. FC Nuremberg, who will take on Werder at the easycredit-Stadium on Saturday, 25.08.2007...
The German cup winners await – and they have a bone to pick with Werder. 1. FC Nuremberg, who will take on Werder at the easycredit-Stadium on Saturday, 25.08.2007...
The German cup winners await – and they have a bone to pick with Werder. 1. FC Nuremberg, who will take on Werder at the easycredit-Stadium on Saturday, 25.08.2007, lost more than just their two matches against the Green-Whites last season. A 2:4 against Schalke in the League Cup and then a 2:0 loss against newly promoted Karlsruher SC have seen the Nuremberg side make a poor start this time around. They lost the last game of last season 0:2 to HSV too. Trainer Hans Meyer’s side are determined to dispel the ghosts of a complex in front of their own fans.
Last season: Tight matches, narrow Werder wins
The negative result against KSC was somewhat corrected in Rostock last weekend with a 2:1 (2:0) win but the plan is now ‘Home-Win’ – at all costs!! “They certainly won’t want to lose their second home game of the season”, noted Werder coach Thomas Schaaf and he continued: “They will be determined to make life difficult for us.” Last season Hans Meyer’s side did just that. Two very close games which Werder managed to turn in their favour. An uninspired Werder managed a lucky 2:1 thanks to goals from Frings and Diego in the first half of the season. On match day 28 in April, a ‘Golden-Goal’ from the back heal of Markus Rosenberg made the difference between the two sides.
It was the Green-Whites 24th win in 50 Bundesliga games against 1. FCN (13 defeats). Seven of those wins came in Nuremberg: “There will be a tough opponent awaiting us”, warned Schaaf “We’ve always had tough games against Nuremberg although the statistics are in our favour.” Werder have won seven times on Franken turf and lost ten – the eleventh defeat must be avoided. The coach looked back to the last game for inspiration: “We will have to look at the positive aspects from the game against Bayern and try to use them to our benefit”, explained Schaaf. Passion and concentration will be the order of the day.
Sixth place and the cup for Nuremberg
Passion and combination – that is the kind of football we came to expect from the ‘Club’ last season. At the end of an impressive second round of games Meyer’s men were in sixth place and boasted the best defence in the league (32 goals against, as had Schalke). To add the cream to the cake, Nuremberg shattered VfB Stuttgart’s double dreams in Berlin, beating the German champions 3:2 (AET) to take the DFB Cup – the clubs first title since 1968. Despite their success, there have been a number of departures. Goalkeeper Raphael Schäfer went to Stuttgart, Jan Polak to Anderlecht, Markus Schroth returned to 1860 Munich, Ivica Banovic went to Freiburg and Vratislav Gresko left Hans Meyer’s squad for Leverkusen. The coach joined forces with sport director Martin Bader to sign Peer Kluge from Gladbach, Zvjezdan Misimovic from Bochum, Jaromir Blazek from Sparta Prague and Greek international Angelos Charisteas who had played with both Ajax Amsterdam and Feyenoord Rotterdam since leaving Bremen in 2005.
The striker scored 18 goals in 66 appearances for the Green-Whites. Since moving to Nuremberg the Greek front man has been successful in numerous friendlies and snatched a brace in the DFB Cup against Viktoria Hamburg but ‘Harry’ will be no danger to his ex-club. Charisteas damaged ligaments against Rostock and won’t be available this Saturday. Javier Pinola will also have to sit out the match with a thigh strain. Due to the injuries, Thomas Schaaf is unsure as to just what sort of line-up to expect. The coach has worries of his own with Boubacar Sanogo and Carlos Alberto unlikely to be fit but on the positive side, Leon Andreasen and Clemens Fritz could return for the match.
