Episode II—time for revenge!

DFB-Pokal semi-final preview
Florian Kohfeldt is looking to take Werder into their first DFB-Pokal final since 2010 (Photo: nordphoto).
First Team
Tuesday, 23.04.2019 / 16:53

A DFB-Pokal semi-final at the Weser-Stadion, under the lights: Werder Bremen against Bayern München. What more could you want? With a win over Bayern Wednesday night (20:45 CEST), Werder can follow through on their goals and end their season on a high. “We all have this feeling that it could work,” said Florian Kohfeldt about the mood amongst the team over the last few days. Bremen are looking for revenge after losing 1-0 to Bayern on the weekend. Head coach Florian Kohfeldt indicated where his team is looking to head: “We want to go to Berlin!”

The last Pokal meeting: It was a key moment of the night: Arturo Vidal pushed the ball past a sliding Janek Sternberg and drew the foul. Without hesitating, referee Tobias Stieler pointed to the spot. The wrong decision, since Sternberg never made contact with Vidal—a bitter moment for Bremen. Thomas Müller stepped up and converted the penalty to make it 2-0 (71’). Müller had previously opened the scoring off a header in the 30th minute. His second goal was a blow from which Werder were unable to recover, as they were knocked out of the DFB-Pokal.

Max Kruse is currently recovering from a thigh injury (Photo: nordphoto).

Squad update: “Max will try everything,” Kohfeldt said in regards to the injured Max Kruse. The Werder captain picked up a thigh injury during a tackle against Bayern’s Joshua Kimmich. “He can handle the pain. The thing is whether or not he can run, shoot, and sprint properly,” the head coach said. Missing along with an injured Fin Bartels will be Nuri Sahin. Sahin picked up a second yellow card during the quarterfinal against Schalke, and is suspended for the semi-final. One player with DFB-Pokal experience who could feature as Sahin’s replacement is Philipp Bargfrede. Both him and Johannes Eggestein could feature in Wednesday’s lineup.


The boss on the game: Florian Kohfeldt was not entirely satisfied with his team’s performance in Munich. While he praised the team for their defence, the same could not be said for Werder’s offence. “You have to be active on both ends. You have to have the feeling that your opponents are also chasing after the ball at some points. It’s really difficult, but we are going to try it,” Kohfeldt said. The head coach sees it as a positive that the two teams are facing each other twice in a matter of days. “Some things you experience only against Bayern. I’m counting on certain players not needing to familiarize themselves with this anymore,” Kohfeldt said. “Both teams have something to lose—especially Bayern.”


The opponents: Bayern have made it to the final of the DFB-Pokal 22 times, taking it home 18 times. Their last DFB-Pokal victory came during the 2015-16 season. Their opponent in the semi-final? Werder Bremen. Werder will do everything they can on Wednesday evening in order to prevent history from repeating itself. Bremen already know what it is like to play against Bayern. Bremen were able to hold off Bayern for most of the match, before going a man down shortly before Niklas Süle scored the lone goal of the match.

Former Werder man Serge Gnabry scored twice for Bayern during the first leg of the season (Photo: nordphoto).

Key player: Serge Gnabry will be making his return to his former club. The 23-year-old played for Werder during the 2017-18 season before making the move to Bayern. A difficult start saw Gnabry go to Hoffenheim on a year-long loan before returning to become a key player in Bayern’s squad. Over 26 matches, Gnabry has picked up nine goals and seven assists. His brace against Werder during the first leg of the season helped secure a win for Bayern. The winger scored three goals in three DFB-Pokal matches this season, and only needed 65 minutes on average to put one in the net.


The officials: Daniel Siebert will be the referee for the DFB-Pokal semi-final. The last game he officiated where Werder played was a 1-1 draw against Wolfsburg on matchday 24. The 41-year-old will be accompanied by Lasse Koslowski and Jan Seidel on the sidelines. The fourth official is Sören Storks while Dr. Robert Kampka and Tobias Reichel will be the video assistants.  

 

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