Werder progress to the last 16

Werder Bremen guaranteed their place among the last 16 teams in this season’s DFB Cup thanks to a narrow 2-1 (1-1) win against FC Erzgebirge Aue. The goals for the Green-Whites were scored by Claudio Pizarro (26’) and Markus Rosenberg (54’) after Fabian Müller had opened the scoring for the visitors (7’).

Thomas Schaaf’s side got off to a shaky start and very quickly found themselves trailing. Skerdilaid Curri played a pass to Fabian Müller and the 21 year old drove unstoppably past Tim Wiese into the top left corner, from all of 20 meters out, to put his side in front with the very first attempt on goal from the hosts. Just a minute later Aue created their second opening and very nearly doubled their lead. A long ball from the back was nodded into the path of Aue’s Mohammed El Berkani, who broke free on goal, but luckily for the Green-Whites, Naldo made up for his initial error with a well time challenge to rescue his side from going two behind.

Having recovered from their poor start, Werder began to take control of the match and went in search of an equaliser, with Pizarro proving especially threatening. Having come close twice with efforts in the 17th and 19th minutes, the Peruvian striker finally levelled the scores as he headed home a free-kick from Diego, with his back to goal, to make it 1-1 as the sides went into the half time break.

With just five minutes of the second half played, the ever menacing Pizarro came agonisingly close to putting his side in front with a shot that went just wide of the right post. Aue were not about to sit back and allow Werder to completely run the show though. Tim Wiese had to be alert to parry away a headed effort by Tomasz Kos which was goal-bound. Werder always looked the more likely to produce, and after a clever one-two with Pizarro, Markus Rosenberg broke away and slotted past Stephan Flauder in the Aue goal to make it 2-1 (54’).

The third division side threw caution to the wind as the tie came to a close and Wiese was again called into action to save a free-kick attempt from Curri. In the end the score was to stay at 2-1. Werder carry on now to the next round of the DFB Cup and the fans can continue to dream of another big day in Berlin.

The game at a glance:

FC Erzgebirge Aue: Flauder – Klingbeil, Kos, Paulus, F. Müller – Cimen, El Berkani (63‘ Hochscheidt), Hensel, Curri, Feick – Schmidt (60‘ Glasner).

Werder Bremen: Wiese, Pasanen (61‘ Fritz), Prödl, Naldo, Boenisch – Baumann, Vranjes (46‘ Hunt), Özil (80‘ Niemeyer), Diego – Rosenberg, Pizarro.

Goals: 1:0 F. Müller (7‘), 1:1 Pizarro (26‘), 1:2 Rosenberg (54‘)

Referee: Aytekin (Oberasbach)

source: werder.de

German Cup 2nd Round Preview

The task for Werder Bremen coach Thomas Schaaf will be to keep his players’ feet on the ground as they prepare to take on Erzgebirge Aue.  Following their 5-2 win over Bayern Munich on Saturday, Werder must feel like they can beat anybody.  Aue are clear outsiders sitting as they do second from bottom in the new third division.

The first of two all-Bundesliga clashes sees Energie Cottbus hosting Borussia Mönchengladbach.  Energie trainer Bojan Prasnikar will be looking for a good Cup performance to hand a boost to his side’s flagging league form which has seen them take just two points and score one goal in their first five matches.  Gladbach certainly have good Cup pedigree with three wins (1960, 1973, and 1995).  The Fohlen have taken just one more point than opponents Cottbus in the league so they too will want to win to kick-start their season.

If Werder are clear favourites against Aue, then Bundesliga leaders Schalke also start as the favourites against fellow top flight side Hannover.  The Königsblauen top the table at the moment and host a Hannover side that is in the midst of an injury crisis and who were thrashed 5-0 by Leverkusen on Friday.  Dieter Hecking looks to have only 14 healthy players available to him!

Another struggling Bundesliga side are in action against Hansa Rostock.  Eintracht Frankfurt are second from bottom although they have played a game less than the rest.  However, trainer Friedhelm Funkel knows that his side will have to raise their game against Rostock, who were relegated from the top division last season.  They find themselves in mid-table in the second division and will see a victory over the ‘Adler’ as an important confidence boost in their ultimate quest to return to the Bundesliga.

Mainz, who are unbeaten and second in the second division will be looking to take the scalp of Bundesliga side Köln when the two sides meet on Tuesday.  They were bitter rivals for promotion last season when the Geiβböcke pipped Jürgen Klopp’s side to a place in the top flight.  Christophe Daum however knows his side are in for a tough time of things.

One of the toughest tasks in the second round is faced by Augsburg, who take on the in-form Bayer Leverkusen.  The Werkself have hit 15 goals already this season so the Augsburg defence better be on its guard.  However Bruno Labbadia may decide to give top-scorer Patrick Helmes a rest and play Theofanis Gekas.

The final game from Tuesday’s batch of matches sees 1860 Munich taking on MSV Duisburg.  The Bavarians are struggling somewhat in the second division with four defeats in the first five matches, whereas the Zebras find themselves eighth after a fine start.

Tuesday’s games in full:

Erzgebirge Aue – Werder Bremen

Schalke – Hannover

Energie Cottbus – Bor. Mönchengladbach

Eintracht Frankfurt – Hansa Rostock

Mainz – 1.FC Köln

Augsburg – Bayer Leverkusen

1860 Munich – Duisburg

source: goal.com

Frings and ‘Merte’ don’t make Aue trip – Özil on board

Once again the Werder players are on their travels for another away game. On Monday the destination wasn’t the champions in Munich but rather the more obscure Erzgebirge region. In the district town of Aue, the Green-Whites will take on third division opposition in the second round of the DFB Cup on Tuesday evening.

Unfortunately for trainer Thomas Schaaf, once again he will have to make do without the services of a number of very important individuals. Aside from Daniel Jensen (Achilles tendon) and Torsten Frings (muscular problems), who are still suffering with problems from the previous week, now Per Mertesacker and Martin Harnik have had to remain in Bremen through illness.

On a more positive note, German international Clemens Fritz and Portuguese striker Hugo Almeida have both returned to join their team mates. Mesut Özil will also make the trip to Erzgebirge, glowing with confidence after another extremely impressive performance at the weekend. And there was plenty of praise about for the young midfielder on Monday: “We are very satisfied with the manner in which he has approached the task here with us. On Saturday he rewarded himself for a great game with a fantastic goal. He is going about things much more offensively both on and off the pitch,” acknowledged Thomas Schaaf.

The coach expects more and more from the attacking 19 year old: “We’ve known for some time just how much talent he possesses, but now he is displaying that better all the time. He has the ability to become a very important player here with us. He is certainly headed in the right direction, but he also knows that there is more to come. He will have to continue proving himself and develop further as a player.”

The squad for the DFB Cup clash with Erzgebirge Aue is:

Tim Wiese, Christian Vander; Sebastian Boenisch, Petri Pasanen, Naldo, Dusko Tosic, Frank Baumann, Jurica Vranjes, Clemens Fritz, Markus Rosenberg, Diego, Mesut Özil, Aaaron Hunt, Sebastian Prödl, Boubacar Sanogo, Hugo Almeida, Claudio Pizarro, Peter Niemeyer

source: werder.de

“Leaf back through the history books…”

As if such a win – unbelievably high scoring! Against the champions! And closest rivals! Away from home! – wasn’t pleasing enough on its own, all of those who witnessed the Green-Whites sensational 5-2 win at the Allianz-Arena went on an immediate search for sensational comparisons. Being able to categorise the win would maybe make it all the more tangible – it seems so hard to really believe!

“Leaf back through the history books to the game against Real,” began general manager Klaus Allofs. He was of course referring to the calibre of the opponents, their status in European club football, their name alone, the majesty of the performance and not to forget the personnel situation in Bremen at the time: “Back then we had a lot of injury problems too.” For last November’s amazing 3-2 win in the Champions League, there were even more first choice players absent – but what was true back then was also true of Saturday’s game in Munich: “We had a good team together anyway, that didn’t throw us off. It just means that you’ve got to work harder to compensate for those who are missing.”

The performance of the winners is only one element worth flicking through the history books to acknowledge. The situation surrounding a very inferior FC Bayern has also left many speechlessly searching for facts and figures to prove that such “Disasters” (as Franz Beckenbauer put it) have occurred in Munich down the years. The quality of the Bremen performance is made all the more clear by just how far back one must search for evidence of such ‘Bayern-Bloopers’. It was the highest defeat in the clubs history since March 1979 – almost 30 years ago. Back then Bayern crumbled 0-4 against Arminia Bielefeld. After the game Tim Wiese queried rhetorically: “When was the last time that anyone scored five goals here against Bayern?” The answer is 1976, when FC Schalke beat Bayer 0-7.

source: werder.de