Diego fancies his chances ahead of ‘North Derby’

Positive signals prior to the north German derby against Hamburg SV. Midfield playmaker Diego (thigh problem) had to go through an individual training programme along with Kevin Schindler (infection) but, the Brazilian had a distinctly positive reply when asked of the possibility of his involvement on Wednesday: “I think I have a good chance of making the trip to Hamburg,” commented Werder’s number 10.

Another player hopeful of making the 18 man squad for the game is Martin Harnik, who came through a complete team training session without problems on Monday. The pacy, offensive all-rounder has recovered from a knee ligament injury.

Fellow front man Boubacar Sanogo was unable to take part on Monday. The Ivory Coast international had to have treatment on an adductor injury. Captain Frank Baumann was excused from the session by trainer Thomas Schaaf on personal grounds.

source: werder.de

Volkswagen to become ‘Top-Partner’ at Werder Bremen

Top automobile manufacturer ‘Volkswagen’ and Werder Bremen have signed a two year cooperative contract which will see a new alignment between the north German car producer and the football fans.

“Werder are one of the best supported as well as most successful clubs in the league, and as such, fit in perfectly with Volkswagen. In order to make better use of our market opportunities in the region, co-operations between our regional dealers and the club will be used to extend our business activities,” explained Detlef Wittig, Volkswagen’s marketing director.

“We are very happy about the partnership with Volkswagen because, in our opinion, this huge international brand name is perfectly suited to Werder Bremen. Together we have a very large unified intersection,” said Werder marketing manager Manfred Müller, on the new automobile partnership.

source: werder.de

Bundesliga Team Of The Week: Round 31

Höttecke

Mijatovic   Delpierre   Boka

Kamper   Bastürk   Altintop   van der Vaart

Olic   Gomez   Ishiaku

Goalkeeper:

1)  Marcel Höttecke (Borussia Dortmund)

Desperate for the points, Nürnberg had a real go at Dortmund in the Friday game, but could not find a way past young BVB keeper Marcel Höttecke.  The 21 year old was playing in only his second ever Bundesliga match, but produced a whole host of stunning reflex saves, with Jan Koller and Thomas Galasek both notably denied by the stand-in keeper.

Defenders:

2)  Andre Mijatovic (Arminia Bielefeld)

The Croatian centre back had a fine game on Saturday as Bielefeld secured a potentially vital win against Bochum.  The leakiest defence in the Bundesliga was superbly marshalled by Mijatovic to keep Bochum at bay.  He also managed to get forward for set-pieces and corners and scored the home side’s opening goal nodding in a Kamper free kick on 70 minutes.

3)  Mathieu Delpierre (Stuttgart)

Stuttgart’s French centre back was as solid as a rock and looks to be getting back to the kind of immense form he showed in the Swabians Championship winning season last year.  He had Fenin and Amanatidis under control all game and limited the ‘Adler’ to just two worthy efforts on goal.

4)  Artur Boka (Stuttgart)

The Stuttgart left back was formidable on Saturday against Frankfurt and was a constant threat down the flanks.  It was like having an extra wide midfielder and the Ivorian caused Frankfurt all kinds of problems with his directness and dangerous crossing to Gomez.

Midfielders:

5)  Halil Altintop (Schalke)

It’s been brother Hamit, who has taken most of the attention this season for his displays for Bayern, but on Saturday it was Halil’s turn to steal the limelight.  The Königsblauen were not at the races for the first half hour, but the driving performance of Altintop got them back into the game and it was he, who grabbed the equaliser just before half time.

6)  Yildiray Bastürk (Stuttgart)

The Turkish midfielder was the star of the show as Stuttgart trounced Eintracht Frankfurt 4-1 at the Gottlieb-Daimler Stadion to go fifth in the table and take a big step towards European qualification this season.  His early goal set things in motion and he was the one full of creative ideas for the Swabians.  He scored his second and VfB’s third after just 18 minutes to put the game beyond Eintracht.

7)  Jonas Kamper (Arminia Bielefeld)

Kamper played the role of the classic match-winning substitute at the weekend against Bochum.  Introduced with half an hour left, the wide man flighted in a perfect free kick for defender Mijatovic to head the ‘Arminen’ in front, before he scored the decisive second himself to cap a fine birthday for the Dane.

8)  Rafael van der Vaart (Hamburg)

Alongside team mate Olic, Dutchman Rafael van der Vaart was the best player on the pitch at the DKB Arena as Hamburg returned to winning ways.  They needed a win to fend off the challenge from the likes of Stuttgart and Bayer Leverkusen for a European place and van der Vaart certainly stepped up to the challenge on Saturday.  He scored the second goal of the game and created the third for Olic.

Forwards:

9) Ivica Olic (Hamburg)

After four games without a goal and six games without a win, talk of a crisis was prevalent at Hamburg.  However a match-winning performance from Ivica Olic saw HSV to a 3-1 over Hansa Rostock.  He scored twice and set up the third for van der Vaart to take advantage of the room he was given by the Rostock defenders.

10) Mario Gomez (Stuttgart)

Bastürk pulled all the strings in midfield for Stuttgart, but Gomez showed why he is pushing to be a starter for Germany in this summer’s European Championships with another fine display of forward play.  He coolly scored VfB’s second goal after just six minutes, before being heavily involved in the third of the game for Bastürk.

11) Manesseh Ishiaku (Duisburg)

Duisburg’s “life insurance” produced the goods again on Sunday to fire the Zebras to a 3-2 win over Bayer Leverkusen.  The Nigerian was a constant threat, created a number of worrying moments for the Bayer defence and scored two vital goals, which could prove vital in Duisburg’s bid to avoid relegation.

Honourable mentions:

As always there are only eleven slots in the team of the week, so some players who played well for their club haven’t made it.  They do however get an honourable mention.

Nürnberg keeper Daniel Klewer was nearly as impressive as Höttecke in the Friday game.  Other goalkeepers had fine games with Frank Rost (Hamburg), Rowan Fernandez (Bielefeld), and Tom Starke (Duisburg) amongst them.

Pavel Pardo and Roberto Hilbert had good games for Stuttgart in midfield, while the Werder Bremen unit of Torsten Frings, Tim Borowski and Mesut Özil deserve praise.

Sascha Riether stood out for Wolfsburg as they held Bayern to a goalless draw, and Arnold Bruggink had yet another fine game for Hannover.

source: goal.com

Bundesliga Midweek Preview: Round 32

Tuesday 6th May (all times local)

20:00 Borussia Dortmund – Stuttgart

20:00 Bochum – Schalke

20:00 Karlsruhe – Energie Cottbus

20:00 Hannover – Hansa Rostock

Wednesday 7th May

20:00 Hamburg – Werder Bremen

20:00 Bayer Leverkusen – Hertha Berlin

20:00 Bayern Munich- Arminia Bielefeld

20:00 Eintracht Frankfurt – Wolfsburg

20:00 Nürnberg – Duisburg

Borussia Dortmund – Stuttgart

Borussia Dortmund welcome Uefa Cup challengers Stuttgart to the Signal Iduna Park looking to finish the season on a high.  BVB have drawn their last two games, but that is at least an improvement on the two defeats they suffered in their other two previous games.

A win for the home side would once and for all make them mathematically safe and would take a little of the pressure off Thomas Doll who will be nervously wondering if his future lies at Dortmund despite recent assurances from the club’s leadership.

A 4-1 win for Stuttgart against Eintracht Frankfurt at the weekend combined with Leverkusen’s loss to Duisburg has seen the Swabians into the top five and has opened up a three point gap over Bayer in sixth.

Another three points on Tuesday for Armin Veh’s side and they will be all-but assured of European qualification, which seemed a very slim possibility earlier this season.

Bochum – Schalke

The Königsblauen will still have designs on finishing second despite a disappointing home draw with Hannover on Satuday.  Under caretaker tariners Mike Büskens and Youri Mulder, Schalke had won their two previous games, but their stalemate with Hannover at the Veltins Arena has handed Werder a two point lead in the race for the runners up spot.

Schalke themselves have a four point lead over fourth placed Hamburg so they will be keeping a close eye on the result from the Nord-derby between HSV and Werder.

Bochum can play the role as a nuisance team at this stage of the season.  Safely positioned in mid-table, they have nothing to gain and nothing to lose.  They took important points frm Duisburg two weeks ago, but then saw Bielefeld grab an important win against them on Saturday.

This Ruhr derby will be a closely fought contest with Marcel Koller’s side motivated by getting one over their local rivals and stopping them taking second spot.

Karlsruhe – Energie Cottbus

Defeat to Werder Bremen at the weekend has dragged Cottbus back into the mix at the bottom of the table and increased the importance of a victory against Karlsruhe.

The Lausitzer are only three points above the bottom three and a defeat to KSC combined with positive results from their rivals could see Bojan Prasnikar’s side sucked back into the relegation zone.  Their two remaining games are at home to Hamburg and then Hannover away on the last game of the season.

Karlsruhe have recovered some of their old form of late but couldn’t do anything to stop Hertha Berlin beating them 3-1 at the weekend.  Trainer Edmund Becker will want to finish the season on a high after enjoying a highly successful first season back in the top flight.

Hannover – Hansa Rostock

Hansa’s 3-1 home loss to Hamburg on Saturday has seen the North coast club slip to the bottom of the table and time is running out for them to rescue their season.

They face a tricky away trip to Hannover on Tuesday and with the teams directly above them all scoring at least a point at the weekend, Rostock really need the full three points against Dieter Heckings Hannover.

The Hannover trainer vowed not to let the season fizzle out without a foght, and their battling point against Schalke on Saturday was testament to that spirit.  Hannover finished 11th last season, so any improvement on that will surely be welcomed at the AWD Arena.

Hamburg – Werder Bremen

The Nord-derby on Wednesday pits second place Werder against fourth place Hamburg in a game that could have a huge bearing on who qualifies for the Champions League and who has to settle for the Uefa Cup.

A 3-1 win away at Hansa Rostock on Saturday brought an end to HSV’s four game goal drought and sealed their first win in six games.  The recovery may have come just at the right time with both Stuttgart and Bayer Leverkusen hot on their tails in the battle for European qualification.

Werder can pretty much secure second with a win over their Northern rivals but will have to do so without the services of key midfielder Torsten Frings.  Having returned from injury the German international picked up an unnecessary booking on Saturday against Cottbus to rule him out of this potentially key game.

Werder have won two of their last three games at the HSH Nordbank Arena so will be confident of adding to their victory from earlier this season at the Weser Stadion.

Bayer Leverkusen – Hertha Berlin

Michael Skibbe’s side slipped up on Sunday when going down 3-2 to relegation threatened Duisburg, so will be looking for a positive response when they meet Hertha Berlin at the Bay-Arena.

The Werkself are now three points adrift of fifth placed Stuttgart so have it all to do if they are not to finish the season disappointed.  For so long they looked like potential title challengers, but a late dip in form has seen them slip out of the European places all together.

Lucien Favre will also be disappointed at the end of the season when he looks back at the Bundesliga campaign of his team.  The capital club currently lie 12th which is two places lower than they finished last season, so the accusation will be that Hertha have gone backwards under their new boss.

Bayern Munich- Arminia Bielefeld

After clinching their 21st Bundesliga title on Sunday against Wolfsburg, Bayern return to the Allianz Arena to celebrate in front of their own fans.  The occasion will be one of euphoria, but the Bavarians will not be taking their foot off the pedal.

Even though the title is in the bag, the Bavarians still have a few records to chase.   They will be aiming to beat Werder Bremen’s record of the fewest goals conceded in a season, while Luca Toni will be aiming to add to his 21 league goals this season against the leakiest defence in the Bundesliga.

Coming up against the newly crowned champions in their own stadium is the last thing Bielefeld need right now as they look to secure their Bundesliga survival.

A 2-0 win over Bochum at the weekend has seen them open up a three point between themselves and 16th place.  They do have arguably the toughest run-in of the bottom sides with further games against Dortmund and Stuttgart to come after their trip to the Allianz Arena.

Eintracht Frankfurt – Wolfsburg

Both of these sides had feint hopes of making it into the Uefa Cup places after they both started the second half of the season in fine form.  Frankfurt with new signing Martin Fenin started with two wins and optimism was high at the Commerzbank Arena but that form couldn’t be maintained at right now the Adler haven’t won in their last five outings.

Wolfsburg were the form side of the entire league after winning seven of their first ten games after the winter break.  Felix Magath’s rebuilding project at the Volkswagen Arena has shown positive signs this season and European qualification will be a genuine target next year.

Nürnberg – Duisburg

This game at the easycredit Stadion is a real “six-pointer” with 17th placed Nürnberg taking on 16th placed MSV Duisburg with just a point separating them.

A win for ‘der Klub’ will still not be enough to get them out of the bottom three, but it will give them hope that they can escape the drop by getting the required points from their last two games against Hertha Berlin and Schalke.  Thomas von Heesen will be praying for a win, while also crossing his fingers that the teams above the also drop points.

Duisburg’s shock win over Leverkusen on Sunday has given the Zebras genuine hope of survival, and taking points off of Nürnberg on Wednesday will provide another boost to their bid to stay in the Bundesliga.

It promises to be an extremely nervous evening at the easycredit Stadion.

source: goal.com

Schaaf interview: “The north can be proud”

The north of Germany is thrilled with anticipation – HSV and Werder clash on Wednesday. The Bundesliga’s north German derby could be the deciding factor in whether HSV clinch a UEFA Cup berth; or whether Werder can stay on course to finish second and automatically qualify for the Champions League.

“The north can be proud”

“It’s great that we’ve got a north derby that means so much. It’s good that we’ve both gotten this far. The north can be proud of it”, Schaaf says.

All eyes will be on the duel between these two top neighbouring clubs: a duel over pride, prestige and domination, at least in the north of Germany. Leading up to the Hamburg game, Werder have undergone a kind of rebirth just at the right time. Because at one point, it seemed they were heading for a total meltdown.

“We always believed that we can play exceptionally well, we knew it. The question is always, how short can you keep a bad phase? You have to make sure that you don’t lose too much ground”, Werder’s coach explains.

“We have to keep everything fair”

Once written off, Bremen are now right back in top form. They’ve won three out of their last four games, including the 5-1 drubbing of third-placed Schalke. Now coach Thomas Schaaf and his boys are fired up for Wednesday’s sporting mega-event, the duel against HSV.

“It’s a rivalry, and that’s good! We just have to keep everything fair. Of course everyone can feel free to express his feelings, but it has to be done in a decent way”, Schaaf demands.

Over the past four years, no Bundesliga team has been as overall dominant as Werder Bremen. It had been a while since the league had seen a top team with such a good balance between excellent playing skills and fighting spirit. That has consistently kept Bremen title contenders. Some say this current campaign has probably been Schaaf’s toughest in quite some time. What does the coach think?

“A series of injuries like I’ve never seen”

“No. Only one thing’s been tougher: we’ve experienced something completely new to us: a series of injuries like I’ve never seen, not even in my days as a player.”

How much player is still left in the coach? After all, he played in 262 Bundesliga games. How much does that contribute to his understanding of the delicate psyche of the modern Bundesliga player? And to what degree did it help him cope with his club’s recent slump?

“Of course you’re still a player. Of course when you evaluate what happens on the pitch, you know from experience why certain things didn’t work, because you went through it yourself.”

source: bundesliga.de