ready for Wednesday after practice session

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 News

Tags: Team News

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