November 10, 2009: The Bundesliga and the Nationalmannschaft lost an extremely talented player. His family and friends have suffered a great loss. My thoughts are with them.

In other news, Werder have drawn Hoffenheim at home in the quarterfinals of the DFB-Pokal. Most news reports I read were talking about how we have to take on “in-form Hoffenheim”. So, are we not in-form? Did we not just beat Hoffenheim a few weeks ago? Sure, it’s a Pokal match and it can go either way. But don’t start big-upping Hoffenheim just because they won this past weekend. Besides, the next round isn’t until February, so either team could crash and burn by then. I mean, Bayern’s strikers might even learn to score goals by then. It’s a long way off.

And finally, our captain Torsten Frings will be out for an unspecified amount of time after picking up an injury during the draw with Nuremberg. All Schaaf will say is that he will miss “some time”… which doesn’t exactly sound too encouraging. With Frings out, Pizarro still a doubt, and our #2 and possible #3 (Almeida and Moreno) strikers both likely still injured (and Oehrl is also definitely out), things may not look too bright for taking on Austria Wien on Thursday or Dortmund this weekend. Hopefully we can pass both tests on the strength of our goal-scoring midfielders (and maybe Rosenberg can finally find his form), and then there will be plenty of time for players to recover over the international break.

Alas, Aaron Hunt decided to step up and pulled back two goals for Werder, waiting until the last minute to snag the second and earn Werder a draw. One point which sent us top of the league on goal difference – at least until the Schalke vs. Leverkusen match was over (another one where one team led 2-0 and blew it). With Bayer emerging with a point, they go top of the Bundesliga and we shuffle down to second – still, not bad!

We were without the services of most of our strikers – Pizarro was still out, and Moreno and Oehrl joined him in treatment. Almeida has returned to training but isn’t fit to play yet. So Rosenberg started the match. As much as I would like to see him score, I’m not exactly surprised that he didn’t. I hope he at least played well.

I was not able to see the match due to a patchy internet connection, so I can’t talk about how Werder actually played. Although I am due to mention the Pokal match and how fantastic Werder’s attacking play can be. Even missing our most potent striker, Claudio Pizarro, we managed to stroll past Kaiserslautern 3-0. All headers, too. It really is a joy especially to watch Hunt, Özil and Marin pass and flick the ball between them. And we were sending some marvelous crosses into the box. And Marko takes some beautiful corner kicks. With those three running riot around the pitch, we rely a bit less on our fullbacks to provide some attacking play, which lets them focus a bit more on defense.

Moving ahead, the draw for the quarterfinal of the DFB-Pokal will be tomorrow.

Werder Bremen will be hosting Leverkusen’s slayers, Kaiserslautern, at the Weserstadion tomorrow. The second division side upset the 2009 Pokal runners-up 2-1 in the previous round. And with the massive upsets in the Pokal so far, they’ll be looking to bring down another Bundesliga side in the Green-Whites.

The really, really awful news? Pizarro is out with a bruised ankle. Oh dear. The good news? We still have plenty of attacking threat, with both Hunt and Özil (and Naldo) in good goalscoring form. Marin is creating great chances. We also have the benefit of being the home side.

So who will start in Pizarro’s place? Looks to be either Rosenberg or Moreno. On Moreno’s last run out, I thought he looked promising. Rosenberg – well, I honestly haven’t seen much from him in the sub appearances he’s made, but I would like to see what he can do working with Marko.

Let’s please keep up the good form and defend that trophy, boys. Don’t become the next victims of the rampant giant-killers.

Then, after dominating Hoffenheim, the Werder team headed to the Bremen Freimarkt folk festival for a bit of singing and presenting the new players to the crowd:

(photo taken from the Werder Bremen website)

…. you know, minus the whole shirtless, Speedo-wearing, sword-carrying, saving-the-universe thing. For some reason, his bouncing and dancing about before saving Eduardo’s penalty reminded me of He-Man. Well saved and well defended once again today, Green-Whites.

Holy crap, you guys! ANOTHER clean sheet! Have we shocked all the other Bundesliga fans yet?

Last season, this fixture ended in an epic 5-4 scoreline in favor of the Green-Whites. It was quite the Werderesque performance – knocking goals in for fun, leading Hoffenheim 4-1, then giving up three goals to give Hoffenheim the hope of emerging with a draw or perhaps stealing the win. Then our golden boy Özil struck the final goal, giving three points to the home boys. It was only one of two wins in a dismal opening couple of months in the 08/09 season.

Hoffenheim are currently only one point behind us in the Bundesliga table, so once again they can’t be taken lightly. I’m always more nervous after a long international break – hopefully everyone can fall back into the swing of things quickly, and we can once again celebrate three points at home.

It seems we have emerged from another international break unscathed – none of the Werder lads picked up injuries, but Borowski and Almeida have both been delayed in their recoveries. Torsten got a bit of a rest during the internationals due to a foot injury.

And Özil remains the breakout star of the season – the club are hoping to hold on to him beyond this season, but the player himself has admitted that he swoons over Barcelona but is of course currently dedicated to helping Werder have a successful season.

And, finally, here are a couple of Nike spots that Mesut and Marko filmed:

Here is Captain Torsten, clearly asking his defense where they’ve been hiding for quite some time:

Next challenge: keeping Ibisevic out of our goal.

Also, the Aaron-Hunt-to-Liverpool rumor? Shot down. For now, anyway. It still brings up some interesting points. I had completely forgotten that his contract was up at the end of this season. Let’s hope Allofs works on keeping Hunt for longer. It’d be nice to keep some consistency in the side, especially because this squad finally seems to be gelling quite well together.

Okay, to be honest, I haven’t seen much of Babel. I am staunchly anti-Liverpool and don’t particular enjoy watching them if I don’t have to. Babel doesn’t start many matches, which is why he’s aching for a move away from Merseyside. Hunt has become a regular starter for the Green-Whites. I just don’t see this happening, especially if our Aaron keeps performing well as he’s been doing, because each goal just puts his value up higher.

So should Werder get rid of one of their proven best players this season to bring in another youngster who could potentially be great/awful – and perhaps some extra money?