DFB Pokal winners!
By: Jackson |
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Werder salvaged their season claiming the DFB Pokal with a 1-0 victory over Leverkusen before a capacity crowd in the capital on Saturday. With the victory the club receives the added benefit of claiming a spot in the Europa League.
With captain Frank Baumann playing in his final match for Werder, fans of Bundesliga action were treated to a energetic encounter. The Green-Whites had numerous chances to score early but efforts by Austria’s Sebastian Prödl and Naldo fell short. However two minutes before the hour Werder would score the matches lone goal as Mesut Özil accepted Juventus-bound Diego’s provision and drive the ball in, via a opportunistic deflection off Manuel Friedrich. Remarkably a few minutes after the goal Frank Baumann was forced out of the match due to an injury but after ten years of service the great leader waved in appreciation to the adoring fans one final time. Down by one the Leverkusen side poured forward in the final half hour and despite being a continuous threat they could not find a way past Tim Wiese.
The victory sits well for Werder as it provides great solace in a difficult season. Under the leadership of Klaus Allofs and Thomas Schaaf will rebuild and return to the heights of the Bundesliga. Their leadership and insight as long-term Werder men is irreplaceable and provide true supporters of the club confidence going forward.
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Category: Team News
Diego deal done
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With still the DFB Pokal final to play on Saturday, Werder has confirmed that the deal to send Diego to Juventus is now complete. The twenty-four year old former Santos-man will be sadly missed by the Green-Whites who will now weigh using some of their transfer money bounty for a more established replacement or look towards Mesut Özil.
Category: Team Newsdreary end of season as Green-Whites lose to Wolfsburg
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Whether it was fatigue from the UEFA Cup final loss on Wednesday, the emotional drop or just focus on upcoming DFB Pokal final, the Green-Whites rolled over losing 5-1 to Wolfsburg in the final match day of the Bundesliga.
Many had wondered if Werder could pull off the ultimate of upsets on the final day and upend Wolfsburg’s title hopes but that came to an end quickly as the hosts showed why they were on the road to their first championship. In rapid fire succession Wolfsburg had a three goal lead by the hour and despite a slick goal by Diego, the match was never in doubt. Starting first with Zvjezdan Misimović’s goal from a close range rebound at the six minute mark, Wolfsburg doubled the mark at the quarter-hour and Grafite flicked in Christian Gentner’s cross from a acute angle. Four minutes prior to the half-hour Sebastian Prödl was the unfortunate victim of a own goal as her redirected Grafite’s low cross. The lone highlight of the match came just past the half-hour when Diego linked nicely with Claudio Pizzaro however beyond that the day was a celebration for Wolfsburg. After the break Grafite and Edin Džeko added goals while Wolfsburg supporters readied for the trophy presentation.
Category: Team Newsa proud effort
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Werder’s hopes and dreams for UEFA Cup came to a crashing conclusion with a 2-1 added-time loss to Shakhtar Donetsk in Istanbul. For Werder, the night will be remembered for missed opportunities as well as being deeply hampered with the loss of Diego and Hugo Almeida, not to mention a difficult to understand disallowed goal by Claudio Pizzaro.
As difficult as it may sound, for Thomas Schaaf’s side it could be a “shape of things to come” with Diego apparently off to Juventus as without the Brazilian play maker the Werder attack rarely materialized. The highly promising German international Mesut Özil will in-time be a superb attacking leader but that “time” is still a few years off, if he can ever match Diego’s expertise. That aside, Werder must pick itself off the ground and ready for the main target of next weeks DFB Pokal final.
Shakhtar took the lead via a counter five minutes before the half hour as Răzvan Raţ sent a long ball to Luiz Adriano, who flicked over Werder keeper Tim Wiese. Only ten minutes later the match was level on a soft goal as Naldo’s free kick from thirty metres bounced of Shakhtar keeper Andriy Pyatov and in. For the balance of regulation time Tim Wiese was the hero of Werder’s day saving a few notable attempts but otherwise the Shahktar keeper had an easier night. The Ukrainian side claimed the trophy via a goal seven minutes into added time as Darijo Srna sent a perfect cross from the right corner to Jadson, who fired the ball in off Tim Wiese’s mitts from twelve metres. Some many have questioned the goal, even called Wiese to task but given he has been a hero so many times it is impossible to lay fault in his direction. Despite late efforts to level the score, it wasn’t to be be and the match ended in defeat.
There was naturally the faces of dejection all around as Shakhtar rejoiced in the historic victory. The disappointment of defeat is of-course, natural yet through it all it was a brilliant run in which Werder can be proud of their effort.
Category: Team Newsready for Wednesday after practice session
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Looking ahead to Wednesday’s UEFA Cup final against Shakhtar Donetsk, the Green Whites went through the glorified training session, losing 3-1 to Karlsruher SC at Weserstadion. The match offered little insight in Wedesday’s finale and certainly it was looked at to be good practice run but put nothing at risk. With KSC at the bottom of the table, two points behind Arminia Bielefeld and Energie Cottbus, if they are able to overtake those two in the final week for the playoff spot many are going to question the seriousness of Werder’s approach in this match.
Sebastian Boenisch, Clemens Fritz, Mesut Özil and Claudio Pizarro were all out of Thomas Schaaf’s starting eleven and as the match started KSC immediately established itself as the aggressor. Needing a win to have any chance to avoid relegation, the visitors had a chance to take the lead three minutes in as Sebastian Prödl was adjudged a penalty on his foul of Lars Stindl. However Marco Engelhardt’s effort was held back by Tim Wiese and match remained scoreless. The reprieve aside Lars Stindl rounded out a double before the break to give KSC the 2-0 lead. Two minutes before the half hour Stefano Celozzi’s from the right was headed in by the striker to the left corner and nine minutes later he drilled the ball in from just outside the area. Prior to a late consolation goal for Werder, KSC extended its lead ten minutes after the break as Sebastian Freis’ pulled the ball back from the byline to Alexander Iashvili who scored from the edge of the six-yard box. With seventeen minutes Mesut Özil’s split KSC’s defenders putting through Hugo Almeida, who first attempt was saved but was able to turn the rebound in quickly. While Werder missed a late attempt, the match was without any intensity as all all eyes are turned towards Wednesday.
Category: Team NewsFrankfurt loses to Werder just like Hamburg
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After completely destroying Nord rivals HSV (again and again), the Green Whites slaughtered Frankfurt 5-0 in front of their boisterous home fans. With firm plans for a top half of the table finish as well as bearing down on the DFB Pokal and UEFA Cup titles, Werder is peaking at the right time.
After a scoreless half in which Frankfurt was the better side, the match turned into target practice for Werder as they tore through the Frankfurt net five times in twenty-six minutes. Five minutes into the new half Frankfurt’s Patrick Ochs was shown a red-card for his challenge Mesut Özil, resulting in Torsten Frings converting from the spot. However with the man advantage the slaughter began as Frings doubled the margin five minutes later drilling the ball in from the edge of the area. Everything was going wrong for Frankfurt now as a minute later Mesut Özil’s free-kick was sent in by Alexandros Tziolis. Only two minutes later a long ball through the left channel was crossed by Özil into the box with Claudio Pizarro volleying in to make it 4-0, a stunning four goals in eleven minutes. Hugo Almeida added the fifth and final goal with thirteen minutes left as he struck a free-kick from just over twenty metres in.
Category: Team NewsHSV dominated again!
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Werder’s total domination of HSV continued as they defeated their Nord rivals for the second time in three days 2-0. Along with Thursdays humiliating loss in the UEFA Cup semi-finals on Thursday, it proved once again who is the best team in the north as echoed by Klaus Allofs:
“We are the winner from of these match-ups. We felt beforehand like the ‘Number one in the North’ and we still are.”
A full house at Weserstadion enjoyed the next series of Nord derby, with Werder taking out their frustration on the visitors in well controlled fashion as Hugo Almeida hit for both goals. Despite being handicapped without the services Clemens Fritz, Sebastian Boenisch, Per Mertesacker and Diego, Thomas Schaaf’s side stomped all over Hamburg from the start. After a Markus Rosenberg effort slammed off the post at the quarter-hour, Werder took the lead eleven minute from the break as the Swede’s turned provide on the counter, crossing for Hugo Almeida to finish from close range. While HSV made a few advances, they were turned aside by the vastly superiour Tim Weise. Three minutes into new half it was Mesut Özil’s turn to be provider as he set up Almeida for number two of the day. Up by two goals Werder showed a disciplined style of play that kept HSV out of the final third and sealed another victory in the Nord derby.
Category: Team NewsGreen-Whites send Hamburg fans home so very sad
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Although being down a goal heading into second-leg of the UEFA Cup, Werder stormed into Hamburg and defeated Martin Jol’s side 3-2 to advance to the finals on aggregate.
Werder posed the first threat of the day as twelve minutes in Claudio Pizarro headed Sebastian Boenisch’s cross over the bar. A minute later Joris Mathijsen supplied Ivica Olić a through ball with the Croatian international putting into the net past keeper Tim Wiese to give HSV a 1-0 lead. The false sense of security drifted far away just before the half hour as Diego and Claudio Pizzaro combined with the former sending the ball over Frank Rost to level the match. Both sides came close before break but most troubling was Diego shown a yellow-card, disqualifying him for the final. After the re-start the quick-pace continued, with Werder taking the lead at the six minutes past the hour as Claudio Pizzaro drove from the circle and struck a soft goal from twenty-five plus metres. At the eighty-third minute a simple backpass was thrown off-course from a object thrown onto the pitch, resulting in a corner. From the corner, Hugo Almeida flicked on the ball for Frank Baumann to nod-in for a 3-1 lead. With three minutes remaining Ivica Olić scored to bring the match 3-2 but that was a close as it would get. In the final moments Hugo Almeida got into a modest pushing match with Jerome Boateng, earning a yellow card and like Diego will miss the final against Shakhtar Donetsk on 20 May in Istanbul.
Category: Team NewsWerder looks ahead to UEFA Cup, losing to Köln
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Laden with injuries the Green Whites dropped 1-0 to Köln. With total focus on the second leg of the UEFA Cup against Hamburg, Thomas Schaaf choose a smaller squad with Torsten Frings, Diego, Mesut Özil and Hugo Almeida out although many question if they were bypassing the importance of the match.
While Werder were able to create a few early chances, the match was definitely lacking in attacking creativity, general flow of play and had all the makings of a friendly. After an hour of vapid play Milivoje Novakovič sent in Nemanja Vučićević’s perfect diagonal cross from a metre out for the decisive goal. The only notable Werder highlight was the introduction of promising twenty year-old Timo Perthel with eighteen minutes left.
Thomas Schaaf said after the loss
“I am unsatisfied with the loss. We started the game well and created some chances which we didn’t use. And we wanted to improve that in the second half. But we lost our concentration after giving up the goal and never found the calmness to get back into the game.”
Category: Team NewsHSV defeat Green-Whites 1-0 in UEFA Cup opening leg
By: Jackson | 1 Comment
Werder fell victim to Martin Jol’s well organized Hamburg 1-0 at Weserstadion in the first-leg of their UEFA Cup semi-final clash.
In the second of the four Nord-derby’s, HSV were in clear control of the opening half and took the lead just before the half-hour when Piotr Trochowski headed Guy Demel’s cross to the far upper right corner. After being well out-played Werder started to gain composure but as echoed by Klaus Allofs, “This was just not our day today” and the final touches weren’t there. In the final twenty minutes of the match Werder had match saving chances but both Markus Rosenberg and Claudio Pizzaro couldn’t put the ball in the net and the match ended with Hamburg winning 1-0.
Following the match Thomas Schaaf summarized the performance simply:
“We have to realise that a game consists of two halves. And you have to play your best in both.”
Category: Team News
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