Bundesliga Preview: Werder Bremen – Hannover

Werder Bremen entertain local rivals Hannover in their final home game of the season with a lot still riding on the result. Werder are looking to secure second spot, while for Hannover a positive run-in could potentially see them qualify for Europe albeit via the Intertoto Cup.

Attack, Attack, Attack

Attacking football is definitely the philosophy at Werder Bremen under Thomas Schaaf and the home crowd are getting more than used to seeing plenty of goals flying in at both ends.

It is not a negative reflection on centre back Naldo and Per Mertesacker, who have both been playing well this season, but it is rather a reflection on the incredibly open football played by the Green and Whites which has seen them score 68 goals this season, but concede 44.

What is apparent is that this attacking attitude has proved successful with Werder set to finish runners up behind the dominant Bayern Munich, who have scored fewer goals.

Werder will be crowned runners up if the win and Schalke fail to beat Eintracht Frankfurt at the Veltins Arena, so the motivation is there for the home side to go all out for the three points.

Werder’s 1-0 win in the midweek Nord-derby against Hamburg was a huge result and has really put them in the driving seat in the race for second spot.

Thomas Schaaf however is not underestimating the challenge posed by Hannover. “96 will make life difficult for us. It will be a very interesting match.

“Hannover are in good form and even have a shot of making a European qualifying place.”

Hannover Look To Cause Upset

Hannover trainer Dieter Hecking will be reminding his players of the game earlier in the season, when the Reds beat Werder 4-3 at the AWD Arena in what was one of the most entertaining games of the entire Bundesliga campaign.

The mood within the Hannover camp is good after a recent run of form has seen them climb the table and still be in with a chance of qualifying for Europe with two games remaining. They know they can mix it with the big boys as their recent performance away at Schalke proved, when they were the better side in a 1-1 draw.

If Hannover beat Werder and results involving Leverkusen and Wolfsburg go their way, then the final game of the season could offer 96 the prize of European football next season.

That they are in such a position is credit to trainer Dieter Hecking, who has rallied his troops after a rather disappointing start to the second half of the season.

Saturday’s encounter with Werder will also be like a meeting of the old boy’s club with numerous players coming up against their former club. Defender Valerien Ismael returns to where he helped win the league title in 2004, while Christian Schulz will be returning to the Weser Stadion for the first time since his mid-season switch to Hannover.

Frank Fahrenhorst was also an ex-Werder player, while Per Mertesacker will be coming up against his ex-colleagues. Despite the friendships, the game will prove a highly competitive affair with a lot at stake for both teams.

FORM GUIDE

Werder Bremen

Match Result Date Championship
Hamburg – Werder Bremen 0 – 1 07/05/2008 BUNDESLIGA
Werder Bremen – Cottbus 2 – 0 03/05/2008 BUNDESLIGA
Karlsruher SC – Werder Bremen 3 – 3 26/04/2008 BUNDESLIGA
Hansa Rostock – Werder Bremen 1 – 2 15/04/2008 BUNDESLIGA
Werder Bremen – Schalke 04 5 – 1 12/04/2008 BUNDESLIGA
Hertha BSC – Werder Bremen 1 – 2 05/04/2008 BUNDESLIGA

Hannover

Match Result Date Championship
Hannover 96 – Hansa Rostock 3 – 0 06/05/2008 BUNDESLIGA
Schalke 04 – Hannover 96 1 – 1 03/05/2008 BUNDESLIGA
Hannover 96 – Hertha BSC 2 – 2 26/04/2008 BUNDESLIGA
Borussia – Hannover 96 1 – 3 16/04/2008 BUNDESLIGA
Hannover 96 – Eintracht 2 – 1 12/04/2008 BUNDESLIGA
VfL Wolfsburg – Hannover 96 3 – 2 05/04/2008 BUNDESLIGA

Head to head record in Bremen:

28/01/07 Werder Bremen 3 Hannover 0

25/03/06 Werder Bremen 5 Hannover 0

18/09/04 Werder Bremen 3 Hannover 0

18/04/04 Werder Bremen 0 Hannover 0

22/03/03 Werder Bremen 1 Hannover 2

TEAM NEWS

Werder Bremen

Following their sendings off against Hamburg, Frank Baumann and Jurica Vranjes will be unavailable for Werder’s last home game of the season. Keeper Tim Wiese should count himself very lucky that no action was taken for his kung-foo attack on Ivica Olic otherwise he would be sitting out as well.

Torsten Frings on the other hand will return from suspension, but Petri Pasanen is an injury doubt. If the Finn does miss out Patrick Owomoyela will deputise.

Likely starting XI: Wiese, Fritz, Mertesacker, Naldo, Pasanen, Frings, Jensen, Borowski, Diego, Rosenberg, Klasnic

Hannover

Dieter Hecking has a worry over Hanno Balitsch who is suffering from an ankle knock, so two-goal substitute Jan Rosenthal is likely to stand-in. The other major loss is striker Mike Hanke who has a stomach illness, so Hashemian will deputise.

The only other absentees are long-term injury victims Bdaric, Yankov and Tarnat, while Sergio Pinto remains suspended.

Likely starting XI: Enke, Cherundolo, Ismael, Vinicius, Schulz, Lala, Rosenthal, Huszti, Bruggink, Stajner, Hashemian

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Werder Bremen- Ivan Klasnic

It still remains unclear whether Ivan Klasnic’s future lies at the Weser Stadion so it will be interesting what happens at the final whistle. Now apparently back to full fitness and looking to be returning to somewhere near his old self, the Croatian will want to sign off at the end of the season with a few goals before he looks forward to next season. Whether that is at the Weser Stadion remains to be seen.

Hannover-Arnold Bruggink

Hannover’s Dutch midfielder has been in highly impressive form of late and is one of the reasons for the clubs run of good results. His driving forward from midfield will be vital on Saturday against Werder, and if he and Lala can get the better of Frings and Borowski, then Hannover have a chance.

source: goal.com

Video preview: Werder vs Hannover

Before saturday’s match, you can remember here 2 very interesting games that we’re played between Werder and Hannover. The first is a superb Werder victory with 5-0 in 2005, just before Mertesacker switched teams. In the the second video are the highlights of 16th match day encounter which ended with a 4-3 victory for the hosts, Hannover.

Werder be warned – Hannover plan smash and grab raid in Bremen

On June 7th, the European Championships will get underway and in just a week and a half, the cream of European football will begin their preparations for the tournament. The approaching competition is the reason behind the Bundesliga’s recent packed schedule. Following all the joy of the midweek win, it’s now up to Werder to turn a deaf ear to the songs claiming they are ‘Number 1 in the North’. The initial target of third place in the league table is now guaranteed, but on Saturday, 10.05.2008, it will be up to the Green-Whites to solidify their hold on the runner-up position when they take on Hannover 96. At the same time, third placed FC Schalke 04 will be pitting their talents against Eintracht Frankfurt in Gelsenkirchen. Should the ‘Royal-Blues’ fail to win, three points for Werder would secure second place.

The target is an attractive one, but they will first have to overcome an opponent against whom they took a bitter stumble just six months ago. In an entertaining game full of controversy in December, 96 ran out 4:3 winners. It was one of only two wins for ‘The Reds’ in eleven meetings between the two sides since Hannover returned to the top flight in 2002. The record books would appear to indicate that Hannover are welcome guests at the Weser Stadium, where they have only won one of 27 outings in the clubs history.

In spite of all the signs pointing in Werder’s favour, trainer Thomas Schaaf is wary of the side from Lower Saxony: “96 will make life difficult for us. It will be a very interesting match,” and the coach continued: “Hannover are in good form and even have a shot at making European qualifying place.” With three former Werder men in their ranks, Frank Fahrenhorst, Valérian Ismaël and ‘Schulle’, there will be no doubting the motivation of ‘The Reds’.

source: werder.de

Third place secured – the battle for second spot rages on

Werder Bremen’s general manager Klaus Allofs was simply glowing after the final whistle at the HSH-Nordbank-Arena: “A 1:0 win in Hamburg at this stage in the championship, we are very satisfied with that! We managed a similarly significant win here the season before last.”

And a brief glance at the league table is confirmation enough of just how important the win was. The nine point jump on fourth placed HSV means Werder will finish the season in third place at worst – and with that, they would be involved in a qualifying game for a place in the Champions League proper. But that’s just not enough for the Green-Whites.

“Everyone knows that third place just isn’t worth so much because it doesn’t ensure you will be involved in the league stage of the competition. With that in mind, we want to win the last two games of the season and qualify directly for the Champions League,” explained a determined Klaus Allofs.

The only competitor left in the race for the runner-up spot in this season’s Bundesliga table is FC Schalke 04, and the situation looks positive for the Green-Whites, but a two point advantage is not a decisive one. “You only need to be able to count to work out that nothing has been decided quite yet. There are still six points up for grabs and we are just two points ahead,” warned captain Frank Baumann who knows that there is still work to be done.

source: werder.de

Bundesliga Weekend Preview: Round 33

The penultimate round of Bundesliga action gets underway this weekend with the title decided, but many more questions unanswered.

The race for the Champions League places has also been sewn up by Werder Bremen and Schalke, but the race for the Uefa Cup places is still anyone’s guess. Hamburg and Stuttgart lead the way but Bayer Leverkusen will be hoping they can make it. Down at the bottom the battle for survival looks set to go right to the wire with nobody mathematically doomed yet.

Saturday 10th May (all times local)

15:30  Wolfsburg – Stuttgart

15:30  Duisburg – Bayern Munich

15:30  Hansa Rostock – Bayer Leverkusen

15:30  Hertha Berlin – Nürnberg

15:30  Energie Cottbus – Hamburg

15:30  Karlsruhe – Bochum

15:30  Arminia Bielefeld – Borussia Dortmund

15:30  Werder Bremen – Hannover

15:30  Schalke – Eintracht Frankfurt

Wolfsburg – Stuttgart

Wolfsburg are already looking to next season with a European place now beyond them and the news this week has been dominated by the possible arrival of Italian defender Christian Zaccardo.

The season however isn’t over for the Wölfe and they showed that they were not going to relax in their remaining games with a scintillating 3-2 away win over Eintracht Frankfurt in midweek.

Stuttgart went down to a 3-2 loss themselves to Borussia Dortmund, but with Bayer Leverkusen also losing they remained in the top five and still have a three point lead over Bayer in sixth, so their destiny is very much in their own hands.

If the match was at the Gottlieb-Daimler Stadion, you’d say home win, but as mentioned Wolfsburg will not role over so VfB will have to fight for the three points on Saturday.

Duisburg – Bayern Munich

With the Zebras fighting for their Bundesliga survival they have to take on the newly crowned league champions in their penultimate game of the season, so the pressure is really mounting on Rudi Bommer’s side.

Things are looking bad for MSV after they lost their key six-pointer in midweek against relegation rivals Nürnberg.  Even a shock win over the Bavarians wouldn’t be enough to see them out of the bottom three, but a loss would see them extremely close to the drop.

Bayern trainer Ottmar Hitzfeld has vowed that his side will not be taking things easy after clinching the title as they want to be fair and keep the league as competitive as possible.

They put strugglers Bielefeld to the sword at the Allianz Arena on Wednesday, and it would be difficult to bet against inflicting another painful defeat on Duisburg this weekend as they chase the Bundesliga record for the fewest goals conceded and with Luca Toni looking to add to already hefty goals tally.

Hansa Rostock – Bayer Leverkusen

This really is the last chance saloon for Hansa Rostock as they look to make the escape of all-time.  They are currently bottom and need two wins combined with no points for Duisburg, Nürnberg, or Bielefeld in their remaining two games.

Some of the Hansa players admitted that all was lost after their 3-0 midweek loss at Hannover.  The Ostseestädter will have to start preparing for life back in the second division and hope for a swift return and better luck next time.

Bayer Leverkusen however are not the tough proposition they were earlier in the season and a recent slump has seen them out of the top five and in real danger of missing out on Europe altogether next season.

Successive losses to Hertha Berlin and Duisburg have allowed Stuttgart to take the lead in the race for fifth and seen some sections of the Bayer fans calling for trainer Michael Skibbe to be fired.  If ever three points were needed, this is it.

Hertha Berlin – Nürnberg

Hertha continue to rely heavily on Serbian striker Marko Pantelic and it was his performance combined with some excellent goalkeeping from Jaroslav Drobny that saw the capital club beat Bayer Leverkusen at the Bay-Arena in midweek.

Lucien Favre will be targeting a top ten finish this season, so three points this weekend are a must.  Things will however be difficult against a team fighting tooth and nail for survival.

Nürnberg have given themselves real hope following their 2-0 in over fellow relegation candidates Duisburg on Wednesday.

Thomas von Heesen will want his side to build upon that, knowing that anything less than a win could see them down if results elsewhere go against them.  Last season’s Cup winners are leaving it really late, but the belief is there that they can stay up.

Energie Cottbus – Hamburg

Energie look to have done just enough to stay in the top flight but still need a few more points to banish the worry of relegation for good.

Five wins in their last ten games has seen them move two points clear of the bottom three, but they are still too close for trainer Bojan Prasnikar’s liking.

The points are equally important for Hamburg as they look to crown their season with at least Uefa Cup qualification.  For so long Huub Stevens’ side looked like genuine Champions League hopefuls but a poor run of form has seen them having to fight with Stuttgart and Bayer Leverkusen for a place in the top five.

The Hanseaten got themselves back on track last weekend with a 3-1 win over Hansa Rostock, but then went down to a 1-0 defeat to rivals Werder in the Nord-derby in midweek.

Karlsruhe – Bochum

Karlsruhe’s final home game of the season will give them a chance to sign off with a victory and cement a top ten finish.  If they had been told that at the start of the season, then Edmund Becker and most of the fans would have been delighted.

Their fantastic start to the season and the fact that they maintained it had some dreaming of Europe, but despite falling away a little towards the end of the season, nothing should detract from the achievements of newly promoted KSC this season.  Three points against Bochum would be the ideal send off at the Wildparkstadion.

Bochum have slipped of late and although their Bundesliga status is secure they are a lot lower in the table than they would like and look set to finish a lot lower than the eighth place they achieved last season.

Arminia Bielefeld – Borussia Dortmund

Having lost to Bayern Munich on Wednesday, the Arminen really need the three points at home to Dortmund to keep them out of the bottom three and fend off any challenge from either Duisburg or Nürnberg.

Bielefeld have their survival in their own hands with two games against Dortmund and Stuttgart.  Neither game is easy so Michael Frontzeck’s team are going to have to come up with a superhuman effort in order to secure the points they need.

Thomas Doll could only have two more games as Dortmund trainer if media reports are to be believed, but the former East German international will want to finish the season on a high for the ‘Yellow and Blacks’ and add to the impressive 3-2 win they achieved in midweek over Stuttgart.

Werder Bremen – Hannover

Werder Bremen are guaranteed a top three finish this season, but they will still want to fend off the late challenge from Schalke for the runners up berth.

Thomas Schaaf’s side came out on top in the Nord-derby against rivals Hamburg on Wednesday, but it came at a cost with a number of suspensions incurred after a spate of yellow and red cards.  The victory over HSV wasn’t pretty, but that won’t matter if Werder can beat Schalke to second place.

A top eight finish for Hannover is very much on the cards as they look to finish the season strongly.  Unbeaten in their last five games, Dieter Heckings’s side may prove a tough nut for Werder to crack this weekend.

Schalke – Eintracht Frankfurt

Schalke have third place sewn up but would dearly love to go one better and usurp Werder as Bundesliga runners up.  It would confirm the Königsblauen’s role as perennial bridesmaids, but would also give incoming boss Fred Rutten something to work on next season.

After a disappointing home draw with Hannover, Schalke returned to winning ways in midweek with an impressive win over Ruhr rivals Bochum with midfielder Ivan Rakitic on top form.

Opponents Frankfurt ended up on the wrong end of a 3-2 defeat to Wolfsburg so will be looking to recovery against the Königsblauen at the Veltins Arena.

source: goal.com