Werder suffered a narrow 2-1 friendly defeat to Hansa Rostock. After Justin Njinmah gave the Green-Whites an early lead (18’), Kai Pröger equalised for Rostock on the stroke of half time. Rostock started the second half the better and went ahead through Simon Rhein’s free kick (61’), which turned out to be the winning goal.
Squad: Olivier Deman, Milos Veljkovic, Nick Woltemade, Rafael Borré, Romano Schmid and Marvin Ducksch were all away on international duty. Jiri Pavlenka returned in goal. Niklas Stark and Amos Pieper also started after long injury lay-offs.
Werder’s starting XI: Pavlenka - Stark, Pieper, Stage, Weiser, Kownacki, Lynen, Njinmah, Agu, Friedl and Opitz
Bench: Dos Santos Haesler - Jung, Schwarz, Polat and Röcker
First-half highlights:
4th minute: Rostock start the game brightly. Pröger is played through on goal and takes a shot, but it’s a comfortable save for Pavlenka in the end.
18th minute: Dawid Kownacki plays a beautiful pass to Justin Njinmah, who manages to fire Werder into the lead despite pressure from Rostock’s defence.
25th minute: Leon Opitz rolls his ankle while trying to cross the ball. It becomes clear that he’ll be unable to continue after he receives some on-field treatment.
45th minute: Rostock equalise on the stroke of half time. Kai Pröger lets fly from range, and his powerful effort beats Pavlenka and finds the back of the net.
Second-half highlights:
55th minute: Simon Rhein delivers a corner into the penalty area. Juan Jose Perea arrives relatively unchallenged, but the ball sails over the bar.
61st minute: Simon Rhein hits a free kick through the wall with lots of spin. Pavlenka stretches but cannot quite get to the ball. Rostock take the lead.
76th minute: After Werder had generally been occupied with defending in the second half, they slowly begin to grow back to the game. Njinmah shoots again following an Agu corner.
86th minute: Niklas Stark is shown the first yellow card of the match for a foul on Perea.
90th minute: Full time. Referee Oldhafer blows the final whistle on the stroke of half time. Werder suffer a narrow 2-1 friendly defeat to Hansa Rostock.
Summary: After an even first half, Rostock were better after the break and went ahead from a free kick. Werder were then unable to find an answer to Hansa Rostock’s determined defensive performance.
Ole Werner: “I think it was noticeable that we weren’t yet at full match practice. But we know what the boys are capable of. It’s just important that we get into a rhythm and stay in the rhythm. You also shouldn’t read too much into a friendly if you couldn’t prepare as normal due to a small group in training. We also had a few lads from the second team. It was more about the physical aspects.”
SV Werder: Pavlenka - Stark, Pieper, Stage (Polat 46'), Weiser (Röcker 46'), Kownacki, Lynen, Njinmah, Agu, Friedl (Jung 46'), Opitz (Schwarz 25')
FC Hansa Rostock: Körber - Hüsing, Rhein, Pröger, Güler, Schumacher, Hinterseer, David, Perea Mendoza, Van Der Werff (Lang 46'), Bachmann
Goals: 1-0 Njinmah (18'), 1-1 Pröger (45'), 1-2 Rhein (61')
Referee: Konrad Oldhafer
