So much for that. What was expected to happen this afternoon did infact happen and Werder have denied Diego the opportunity to represent Brazil in China next month. The only question that remained was whether or not Werder would face sanctions or some form of punishment from FIFA for keeping the playmaker locked in his room in Bremen/Austria/Norderney when Dunga drove by to pick him up. Klaus Allofs doesn’t seem to think so:

“It’s clear that if we don’t release Diego, we won’t face any sanctions”

Well, there you have it then. Cased closed. Also should be noted that Schalke have crushed Rafinha’s Olympic hopes as well. A bit harsher than Diego’s denial if you ask us. Diego is the absolute, undoubtedly key piece for Werder. Bremen are a completely different team without him. Rafinha, while quite good, doesn’t have the same type of impact with Schalke as a right back.

Diego is due in camp on July 14th for the second part of preseason preparations. Let’s move on to something new, shall we.

So today, tactical genius Dunga has scribbled some names on a team sheet and handed it over to the Bejing authorities. Included on the sheet wedged in between Ronaldinho and Anderson? The name of Diego Ribas da Cuhna. Up to this point it looked as though Werder would be denying Diego his Olympic desires in the interest of getting him into preseason preparations this week. However, there were recent murmurs of a planned discussion regarding his participation in the Games.

It’s widely known that the Olympics are the one major trophy Brazil have yet to get their hands on and this roster looks like a serious attempt to make that happen. The major exemption is of course Kaka, who was firmly denied the opportunity to play by Milan. Diego seems to genuinely love playing for his country, especially so because it’s relatively new to him. He undoubtedly begun talking to good friend Robinho about the possibility of teaming up for something meaningful and maybe asked Werder to reconsider. As much as they really didn’t want to let him go, perhaps Bremen are ready to relent, which honestly might not be a bad idea. It’s not good business to upset your prized playmaker who may be/possibly/could be looking to move away soon.

When we last visited this topic, the Werder Offside were gradually throwing our support behind the management and coaching staff. Begrudgingly. That’s still our position, but there is a part of our cold, cold heart that would like to see Diego play every minute in every match and come back to Northern Germany with this.

To do it? Brazil are in a group with hosts China, and footballing juggernauts New Zealand and Belgium. First match is on 8/7 and the final is on 8/23.

What does this mean for Werder? If Brazil go to the final, it would result in Diego missing training camp (not too much of a problem), a Cup match (definitely not a problem), the opener away to Bielefeld (slight problem), and the home opener versus Schalke (the real problem). The Blues have strengthened an already strong squad over the last few weeks and look to be Werder’s main rival in wrestling the big silver plate from Bayern’s hands. A slow start would not be advised.

The one point of slight solace? Brazil’s possible squad also includes Rafinha, the Schalke right back.

France, Italy or Spain? Such is the dilemma facing Ivan Klasnic this morning. After a mildly serious flirtation with Steve Bruce and Wigan, Ivan has ruled out a move to NW England due to the poor weather and the possible impact on his health. Or Wigan turned him down due to the possible impact of his poor health on Wigan. Depends who you ask. Looks like Besiktas is out too.

Barring another suitor, the three horse race for his signature includes Nantes, Torino, and Mallorca.

Nantes seem to have the inside track, at least for today. You may know FC Nantes as the last club to win Ligue 1 before Lyon decided to put a chokehold on the title seven years ago and not let go. If warm weather is what Klasnic is looking for, he could do a whole lot worse than Mallorca. The Spanish club are losing Daniel Guiza and Ivan would be an obvious candidate to slot into his spot up top. The question still remains if he can play 90 minutes on a weekly basis. Might not be a whole lot in this rumor as Klasnic was apparently at home in Hamburg whilst being reportedly in Spain working on contractual details. The Torino whispers have been around a little while, but remain a possibility.

Three real distinct situations too. Mallaroca finished seventh in La Liga last season, largely in part to the league’s leading goal scorer. Nantes won promotion from Ligue 2 and would obviously like to secure their spot in the top flight. Torino found themselves dangerously close to the drop in last season’s Serie A and Klasnic could find himself part of a relegation fight again.

The best news in all of this for Werder? It looks as though a possible move to another Bundesliga club is not on the table. Didn’t relish the thought of a revitalized, something to prove Ivan Klasnic stepping out for BVB/HSV/Hannover at the Weser next season. You just know he would’ve scored. Maybe twice.

Only Serious Candidates Need Apply

This just in: Bremen are looking for another forward. After being rejected again and again by mediocre (Samaras) to average (Vennegoor of Hesselink) to intriguing (Moreno) offensive players, Werder are still in the market for somone to put the ball in the net on a regular basis.

As Allofs and Schaaf have crossed name after name off of their wanted list this summer, there is still one player that seemingly won’t go away - Milan Baros. Werder have been passively expressing an interest in the Czech playmaker for a number of years it seems and those rumors have resurfaced in recent weeks. The striker has been beloved/bumbling/reviled/effective at his various club stops and looks to be roughly in line with Werder’s policy of spending low on proven players during a dip in their careers. The risk is relatively low (maybe 4-6 Million Euros) for a player that could provide a stable veteran presence on a front line that desparately needs it.

Forwardwise, Werder has a stable of rough, but extremely talented players. However, all are fairly young and have each proven to be a bit up and down as the season progresses. Rosenberg (25) was one of last year’s success stories, but may actually perform better off the bench. Almeida (24) had flashes of magnificence, especially in Europe, but was invisible far too often. Hunt (21) is better suited to the midfield. Sanogo (25), rejected by Hamburg, was often a more extreme version of Almeida - bigger highs along with lower lows. With the addition of Huseinovic (19), the attacking force got even more inexperienced. Klasnic was the one true veteran striker, at the ripe ol’ age of 28. He had been through the pressure packed double win of 2004, however.

On one hand, Schaaf has been able to change his starters and substitution patterns to play the most in form strikers at the moment. Last year’s rotation was quite fluid and the starting two up top changed almost from week to week. Of course the inevitable downside to all of this is that Werder lack the deadly, out and out, pure goalscorer that most successful clubs have (and need). Klose scored a boatload of goals, but even he looked to pass first on many occasions.

So, it’s July 7th and already everyone here at the Werder Offside is beginning to get a little concerned. Werder will keep looking for an experienced striker over the next two months, but as time goes by, more and more players will get picked up by other clubs and the pool will continue to get smaller. Plus the amount of training time with new teammates decreases everyday.

Even the voice of sanity, Tim Weise is sounding a bit worried. “There has to be another top quality striker arriving, because we have lost Ivan Klasnic” he said.

In an obvious attempt to corner the market on tall 19 year olds, Werder have gone and signed two in the last couple of days. Defender Niklas Anderson comes from Rot-Weiss Essen (former home of Özil as well) and has been capped for the German U20s. Last season was his first as a professional and ended up playing in 26 matches. He worked his way into the starting lineup around Matchday 5 and stayed there most of the year. RWE went with just three in the back most of the time and Anderson played on the outside on the left. Even when they went to four in the back, he stayed oout there. Went the full 90 in RWE’s 4-0 thrashing of the Werder reserves, which couldn’t have hurt his profile. He’ll now find himself still in the Regionalliga Nord, but in different colors on a better squad. Definitely one for the future.

One for the much nearer future is Said Huseinovic. Werder signed the young Bosnian-Herzegovinian from FK Sloboda (for either half a million or a full million Euros, depending on the source) on Tuesday. Luckily, the Werder Offside has a contact in Tuzla and was able to speak with him last night. The report is that the kid can play. Also in his first full professional season (well, top flight anyway), he played in 25 matches, scoring 13 goals and leading the club in assists. He leaves the club with 21 goals in 47 matches total. And Allofs and Schaaf like what they see:

“Said is fast, a good dribbler and very mobile. In signing him, we have further strengthened our squad with an interesting type of player, who can open up new opportunities for us if he works to his strengths. We will have to be patient with him though, we can’t expect him to work wonders immediately.”

“Said caught the attention of our scouts as a light footed and straight forward attacking player. He will make his way with us and we are looking forward to having him here.”

Sounds like an out an out striker and it’ll be interesting to see where he ends up and how much playing time he’ll see. In the first team, he’s got Almeida, Sanogo, and Rosenberg already ahead of him. Werder’s got a few more transactions to make in the coming months and I have to believe that one of those will be a striker (Milan Baros?). Throw in versatile attacking players like Harnik and Hunt, and looks like Huseinovic may find his way into more reserve matches than the senior team. This is not a bad thing by any means. The kid could use some seasoning and although I’ve never laid eyes on a minute of the kind of football they play in the Premijer Liga BiH, I can imagine the speed and skill to the BL would take some getting used to.

An old man by comparison, 20 year old forward Kevin Schindler is off to Rostock on a one year loan deal. This is a great move for Schindler, perfect in fact. The last few years have seen him not quite good enough to feature for the senior team, but needing a bigger challenge than the Regionalliga was given him with the reserves. He’ll be playing for a strong BL2 club against better competition than, say Lübeck.

So what happens to these Werder youngsters when they don’t eventually get the playing time they think they deserve? Well, they leave of course. To Arsenal specifically. At least in the case of Amaury Bischoff. After three years at Werder, Bischoff all but waiting for the ink to dry on a move to the Gunners. Bremen wanted to keep him, but he is 1) young and 2) French-born, making it impossible to escape the clutches of Arsene Wenger.

So what awaits Werder over the nine months that comprise the 08-09 Bundesliga season?

16.08.08 @ Bielefeld
23.08.08 FC Schalke 04
30.08.08 @ Bor. Mönchengladbach
13.09.08 Energie Cottbus

A relatively smooth introduction to 08-09, with three of the first four matches versus teams who either 1) spent the season fighting off relegation 2) were promoted. Away to Bielefeld is always a tricky proposition (last year’s 1-1 draw was brutal), but maximum points should be expected, along with wins at ‘Gladbach and home to Cottbus. Schalke at home this early in this season is a tone setter for the year. A win would go a long way in building the confidence of a team beginning to play without a few familiar faces (Boro, Klasnic). A loss puts us an early three points behind Die Knappen. On a side note, it’s great to have a big, proper club like ‘Gladbach back where they belong, in the Bundesliga.

20.09.08 @ Bayern München

The real test of the first half of the season. Last year’s edition was a gutsy draw with a team of walking wounded and substitutes. Hopefully Matchday 5 will still see most everyone fresh and ready to go. First match for Boro against his old team. First match for Klinsi against his main competition for silverware. Werder-Bayern. Massive.

27.09.08 1899 Hoffenheim

First crack at the Gretna of Deutschland. I love seeing new teams/stadia/supporters in the Bundesliga. The occasional infusion of new blood is always good, even if a little contrived, and I’ll miss Hoffenheim in 09-10. Still miss Aachen too.

04.10.08 @ VfB Stuttgart
18.10.08 Borussia Dortmund
25.10.08 @Hannover 96
29.10.08 Bayer Leverkusen
31.10.08 Hertha BSC

This is the stretch of the schedule that has everyone here at the Werder Offside a little worried. Five consecutive matches versus teams likely to finish in the top half of the table, if not in a European spot. Thankfully three are at home (which flips in the second half of the season), but away to Stuttgart and Werder-Castoffs 96 are tough, tough matches.

08.11.08 @VfL Bochum 1848
15.11.08 1. FC Köln

Six points. Good to have the Goats back too.

22.11.08 @Hamburger SV

The other major first half hurdle. Last year’s version was a bloodbath with nine yellow cards, two red cards, ‘keeper on Croat violence, and one sublime Hugo Almeida goal.

29.11.08 Eintracht Frankfurt
06.12.08 @Karlsruher SC
13.12.08 VfL Wolfsburg

The winter break comes after three tricky contests. Can Frankfurt take the next step and be a permanent top half team? Can Karlsruher deal with the Exodus of all their decent players? Is Wolfsburg for real?

30.01.09 Arminia Bielefeld

Anything less than 8-1 again will be an abject failure.

07.02.09 @FC Schalke 04

Stumbling out of the gate after the winter break restart is an annual Werder tradition. Similar to Matchday 2, this result will have a lot of say in whether or not that continues.

14.02.09 Bor. Mönchengladbach
21.02.09 @Energie Cottbus

Cottbus is one of the harder places to play in the Bundesliga, especially for the Big Boys. If you do manage to come away with three points, they’ll make you work for it.

28.02.09 Bayern München

A big Champions League fixture aside, the Match of the Year.

07.03.09 @1899 Hoffenheim

Werder’s first trip ever to Hoffenheim (well, technically Mannheim, until the new stadium is ready)? Maybe. Regardless, can’t imagine it being on Goltv.

14.03.09 VfB Stuttgart
21.03.09 @Borussia Dortmund
04.04.09 Hannover 96
11.04.09 @Bayer Leverkusen
18.04.09 @Hertha BSC

The flipside of this stretch from earlier in the season and it’s significantly more difficult. This month will have a lot to contribute to the final standings, not just for Werder but for anyone looking to finish between 2nd and 6th.

25.04.09 VfL Bochum 1848
02.05.09 @1. FC Köln

6 more points.

09.05.09 Hamburger SV

Match of the Year 1A. Last season’s edition was something special with the Football Gods smiling on the Green-Whites.

13.05.09 @Eintracht Frankfurt
16.05.09 Karlsruher SC
23.05.09 @VfL Wolfsburg

Fairly simple closure to the season, assuming 1) Diego can deal with the Frankfurt supporters better than last year, 2) KSC aren’t in a relegation battle and 3) Wolfsburg aren’t playing for a spot in Europe.

Just 45 short days…

The Real Madrid rumors? Hearsay. The Arsenal rumors? Wishful thinking. Juventus or Inter? Never gonna happen.

What’s that? Oh.

In the most definitive declaration to date, Diego has talked of his admiration for a couple of smallish Italian clubs in a recent interview with Il Corriere Dello Sport. These rumors have been around before (especially Juve) but never straight from the Zauber-mouth:

“Juventus and Inter spoke to my club about me but nothing happened and there was no talk about money,”
“I really like Juventus because they are a great team, with a rich tradition and millions of fans.”
“Inter would also be ideal because they are a very strong group with world class players full of determination.”

Passing praise for a pair of well regarded clubs or a thinly veiled invitation to make Werder an offer? A bit of both really. Diego wants to ultimately play for the proverbial Big Club in the Big League and there’s no shame in that. Someday he will. The pesky details of when and where still need to be worked out in the near future. In the meantime, he and his agent/father are following the transfer script that has been used countless times before – 1) meaningless platitudes about tradition, 2) fawning praise directed towards supporters, 3) faint admiration for style of play and 4) an occasional ego-stroking compliment for the current manager. Declaring an affinity of the weather and culture are optional.

It’s a delicate verbal dance really. Play the wallflower and no one asks you onto the disco floor. Come out too aggressively and pompous and you’re Rafael van der Vaart.

And according to script, Diego added:

“As for my future, we will see what happens. At the moment it looks like my future lies with Werder Bremen. I’m fine there, I have a good team, I’m considered important, so we’ll see.”

The truth is that he is happy at Werder, just not quite happy enough to stay. He is the focal point for a football team that plays one of the most aggressively attacking styles in Europe. He has complete freedom and everything moving forward goes through him, or at least it’s designed to. He scores goals, takes free most kicks and corners, and takes every penalty. A creative footballer couldn’t ask for more. Well, except to do all of those things in Madrid, or London, or Turin, or Milan, or Barcelona, or Manchester.

Will he leave in the next few months? Highly unlikely. Preparations are well underway for next season and Diego plays a minor role in Bremen’s fortunes at home and in Europe. Will he leave next summer? Probably. Those Werder supporters that have come to the realization that Diego will be gone soon are being realistic; those that haven’t are being delusional. Let’s just enjoy Year Three of the Ribas da Cuhna experience.

Within the last 10 months, Christian Schulz left for Hanover as last season began and Leon Andreasen found his way to Fulham during the winter transfer window. Schulz had a solid season and was always a first choice player for Dieter Hecking. Andreasen featured often for the Cottagers upon his arrival, but his playing time dwindled to nil as Fulham’s Great Escape was completed. And let’s not forget that Daniel Jensen was repeatedly very close to leaving as well, looking to play more.

Well, Patrick Owomoyela is the latest player to leave Werder and sign with a club that promises more playing opportunities, namely Dortmund. Although limited to just 12 total appearances in 07/08, Owo has played in 50 Bundesliga matches for Werder, in addition to 30 appearances in European competitions. He has been a fine steward for Bremen over the last three years, being able to lineup in the back or in the midfield. Even though his passing and field vision leave a lot to be desired, he is an above average marker of men and rarely commits defensive errors. As the Klopp-ening of BVB continues in earnest, he’ll have a good shot at starting on the right side come opening day. Werder really didn’t want him to go, but despite the persuasions of Allofs and Co, he’s off to the Ruhr.

Every team that carries a large roster of quality players must continually deal with these inevitable departures. Some players you can convince to stay, others will leave regardless. Bremen have two major strikes against it however - the lack of huge sums of money and the lack of sexiness.

Smaller clubs will no doubt cringe at my claims of relative poverty, but when compared to their direct competitors for talent, Werder typically can’t compete. They haven’t traditionally paid out large transfer fees and they keep their player wage expenditures in check. Fiscally responsible clubs will be around for a long time, but have a harder time in convincing unhappy players to stay.

And despite their commitment to positive, attacking football, Bremen remain a fairly unglamorous club. The consistent presence in the CL is a recent (5 year) development, the city is relatively small not remotely flashy, and there are less endorsement/sponsorship possibilities. Most modern footballers care about these things and would look for them in a potential employer. And they definitely contribute to players wanting to leave (although not always).

Some serious shopping needs to be done to replace these role players heading for the exits. As the injury ravaged 07/08 season showed us, without a deep bench, you stumble out of the gate in the league, crash out of the cup in the early stages and get hammered by weaker sides in the CL. At home. A bench of Vranjes, Niemeyer and Schindler didn’t exactly instill confidence, nor will it ever.

Young Hugo Almeida has seen a bit of action, about what the Werder Offside had imagined. His case has been helped by the fact that the Portuguese were the class of their group and one of the new favorites to win this thing. He saw a brief ten minutes of action in the 3-1 win over the poor Czechs, but produced nothing of real note. Made the highlights as the first person to congratulate RonRon on his lovely service to Quaresma for the stoppage time game clincher. Played the final fifteen in the throw-the-hosts-a-bone capitulation to the Swiss and…well…see the above, minus the bit about Ronaldo and the goal.

Perhaps no Bremen player is getting more out of this tournament than Martin Harnik. He has logged 247 minutes as the most dangerous attacking option for Austria, which is something akin to being the smartest blonde in a contest in which one screws in a light bulb, as the old cliché roughly goes. After spending the majority of the Croatia and Poland matches as a defacto forward, he dropped back into a more comfortable attacking midfield role for the Germany match. Essentially a microcosm of the entire Austrian effort this tournament, Martin showed a lot of grit, created a handful of decent scoring chances and didn’t finish a single one of them. The first quarter of the Poland match was especially telling, as he missed two golden chances that an older/more skilled/more experienced player would have put away. Against Germany, he contributed little on the rightside of midfield and was subbed of 23 minutes from time. He is the front runner for the prestigious “Quote of the Euro” prize, however.

The other Werder Austrian youngster, Seb Prödl, also had a solid tournament. We don’t watch a lot of Austrian club football here at Werder Offside HQ, and by “don’t watch a lot” we mean “never seen any before, ever.” Needless to say this was our first real look at Prödl and expectations are quite high for the kid’s career in Bremen. Again, the typically solid Werder scouting network and an interest in developing young players has lead us to another potentially great project. He could be very, very good. Disappointingly got himself suspended for the Germany match with the two yellows, but still got a great experience in playing two full matches at a major senior international tournament. Plus, drew the penalty that tied Poland by placing a handful of his shirt into the mitts of Marcin Wasilewski and going down.

What to say about the German trio – Fritz, Mertesacker and Frings? Two wholly disappointing matches versus Croatia and Austria (despite the win) resulted in a lot of blame across the squad. Fritz couldn’t quite reproduce the form he showed in the Poland match, but still was relatively solid versus the Croatians and Austrians. He’s got tremendous energy, he plays for his teammates and creates enough chances to prevent himself from being dropped.

Mertesacker too has had a good tournament. He hasn’t made too many mistakes, although could be held partially accountable for Croatia’s second goal. Has been his usual dominant self in the air and made quite a few timely clearances in the box.

Other than Poldi, Frings has been the best player Germany has had in this tournament. Other than the Shot Heard ‘Round Vienna, Ballack has been conspicuous by his absence. Gomez has been utterly dreadful, even before The Miss. Lehman hasn’t instilled confidence. Schweini has been a bad, bad boy. Through everything, Torsten Frings has been himself. It’s not flashy or flamboyant, but completely necessary. Now, let’s hope that rib heals up in time.

Boro was on the pitch for around 35 seconds. Even with Sweinsteiger out, he can’t get a game.

Markus Rosenberg played the entire second half in the gutting loss to Spain, coming on for the injured Ibrahimovic. He got a good number of touches, but never really seemed to find his stride in the context of the game. Plus he went down a little too easy on two or three occasions with his back to goal for our liking. Still has the penultimate match versus Russia tomorrow.

And finally, Ivan Klasnic played 74 minutes and scored the game winner versus Poland, punctuating his comeback from two kidney transplants. We may be completely gutted that he has decided to leave, but the Werder Offside would like to officially wish him the best of luck wherever he lands (Old Firm?) and tell him that we couldn’t be prouder.

Hugo Almeida had a wonderful view of this one, planted firmly to the Portuguese bench for the full 90. We’ll see him at some point during Austwitzerlandia as a change of pace forward, but not yet. Doesn’t help that Portugal play but one striker and he is typically utilized less than any other team in Europe. San Marino excluded.

Austria v. Croatia

This match up included three Werder players, one who is joining next season and one who is leaving. Although we did not see soon to be ex-player Ivan Klasnic, as he did not feature for Croatia, both Martin Harnik and Sebastian Prödl went the full 90 for European Giants Austria.

Harnik, firmly planted to the bench in Bremen showed well, especially as the match wore on. The early going was rough for Austria and Harnik saw little of the ball. There was just no offensive rhythm and service to the forwards was virtually non-existent. When he did get the ball at his feet, he showed a willingness to go at defenders, bit more often than not was easily dispossessed, looking short of ideas and unsure of what the plan was. A little casual. Despite being penciled into the lineup sheet as a forward, Harnik spent the majority of the match in the midfield, dropping back to pick up passes, turning and going at the defense. During the majority of the second half, he became virtually the entire offensive strategy for the Austrians, providing cross after cross from the deep corner. Many of these were quite dangerous and they resulted in exactly zero goals. Still our favorite Werder Austrian since Andreas Herzog.

Prödl was our Austrian Man of the Match for what it’s worth, which is exactly nothing. The big, athletic right back played well defensively, finding himself in proper position most of the time and doing well against the Croatian strikers. Especially important when playing with just a three man backline, and especially, especially important when one of the other three is Emanuel Pogatetz (side note – if there is a worse starter in this tournament we’ll be shocked. Shocked).

But where Prödl shined was in the offensive end of the pitch. He was often the target on set pieces and just missed on a header midway through the first half. He even threw in an ambitious forty yard shot to mix it up a bit. Prödl got up field again and again, repeatedly getting involved in the offensive third. He occasionally got a little too involved however and had a hard time finding his way back into the backline. In other words, the perfect Werder defender. Even the brilliant and insightful Tommy Smyth suggested that he “does get caught up field, it takes him a while to get back.” Can’t wait to have him at the Weser.

Germany v. Poland

Revelation of this match was the inspired start of Clemens Fritz on the right side of midfield. Midfield! And frankly he was mostly great. Hopefully Thomas Schaaf was watching and thinking about the possibilities. Set free of those pesky defensive responsibilities, Fritz was up and down the flank with abandon. He looked like he was having fun. Honestly, the deep positions he found himself in and the crosses he put into the box were really no different than what he does for Bremen, but he was able to do so with much greater frequency. He’s one of the best crossers in Germany, and he really should do it more often. He even cut inside a few times and provided cover to Lahm on his occasional runs. Getting subbed off at 55 minutes was a mistake, as Schweini was mush less effective when brought on.

Frings was his usual Teutonically effective self. Patrolled the midfield, cleaned up messes, played a ton of square balls and a few exploratory ones, took nice dead balls, linked up well with Ballack, and screamed at Klose and Schweini when they executed poorly and made a bad decision respectively.

Mertesacker was virtually invisible, which is exactly what you want out of your center back. Showed nice mobility, and other than some early communication issues with Lehman and Metzelder, had a solid outing.

Sweden v. Greece

Markus Rosenberg was rather surprisingly brought on in the 78th minute for the injured midfielder Wilhelmsson. Considering the Swedes had the lead at that point and Markus is buried on the depth chart, his inclusion was unexecpted. He linked up well with his teammates, but really didn’t have too much of a chance to get into the match. A horribly, horribly dull, life sucking match. The sooner the Greeks are out of this tournament, the better.

On to Round Two.

In addition to getting a little deeper in some key positions, there are two main vacancies to fill – the Tim Borowski shaped hole that now exists on the left side of midfield and the valuable minutes and experience that Ivan Klasnic provided, mostly off the bench. Combined, they provided close to 20 years of valuable service to Werder and will be missed.

Werder have already missed out on signing young Bolivian international Marcelo Moreno from Cruzeiro. After scoring eight goals in this year’s Copa Libertadores he was being monitored by both the Red and Blue sides of Manchester, Spurs, Shaktar Donetsk, in addition to Werder. And Moreno chose to head to the Ukraine for some reason or another.

Also looks like the possibility of getting young Gunner Nicklas Bendtner into the Bundesliga (with Werder, FCB or BVB) is dead in the water, at least for now.

For a reported 12 million Euros, Werder could be in possession of one Ricardo Oliveira. Winning the CL with AC Milan in 2007, he was loaned out to Real Zaragoza and proceeded to score 17 goals last season in La Liga. Perhaps the lad could’ve tried a bit harder, as Zaragoza were relegated. Standard operating procedure requires relegated clubs to slash their transfer budgets and return loaned players back to whence they came. Zaragoza did neither as they signed Oliveira for 10 million Euros a few days ago. The assumption could be that they would turn around and sell, pocketing a tidy profit. Gotta think the presence of a certain diminutive, impish playmaker in the Werder midfield could help the Brazilian striker to join up.

If Oliveira is the big money, top of the list replacement for Klansic, then Georgios Samaras is surely Plan D. Who B and C are, we couldn’t tell you. After a successful-ish loan spell to Celtic, they’re looking to go steady and make the relationship permanent. However, lurking in the shadows is Thomas Schaaf, ready to pounce and offer the opportunity for Champions League football and the opportunity to wear a green/white kit. Let’s see Celtic match that. Plus Werder has been unable to meet it’s big Greek quota since Charisteas left town.

The favorite current rumor of the Werder Offside is the one where young US international Michael Bradley decides to ply his trade at the Weser next season. We’ve been watching him since his early days with the eloquently named New York/NewJersey MetroStars and his development into a goal scoring midfielder has been remarkable. And yes we realize that everyone scores buckets of goals in the Eredivisie, but still. Most likely to not start for a while at least, he would get great experience in a top league with an attacking team, CL action, and the tutelage of a manager that has a track record of grooming midfielders. Despite earlier indications that Germany would be his preferred destination, Michael has recently come out and asked Everton to politely come and get him. Whether they do is a different story. Plus Werder have been unable to meet it’s Yank quota since Chad Deering left town.

Exiting times. Werder essentially deal in two types of transfers – young, raw, affordable talent (Boenisch, Ozil, Harnik) and reclamation projects (Diego, Almeida, Sanogo). The above short list is a bit of both, but thankfully a little heavier on the former. After the signings Schalke made in the last couple of days (and those rumored to be coming), there is definitely work to be done to keep up.

In other news, Atletico Madrid have decided not to pursue Diego afterall. They thought they would leave that arduous task to some other club in town.