The facts speak volumes: The leagues second best home side play host to the leagues second worst away side. The rolls to be played on Sunday, 14.04.2004 at 5:30pm in the game between Werder Bremen and SC Freiburg are quite clear. To add to this Werder have now gone 17 games without defeat, a historical record which they would like to maintain against Volker Finkes' team.

Anyone in the Werder camp who may possibly underestimate Sundays opponents can answer to Head-coach Thomas Schaaf: "The whole world expects us to win, therein lies the danger, but my team are prepared for this. The fact is that this match against SC Freiburg won't be any easier than last Sundays game against VfB Stuttgart."

Probably even more difficult if we are to listen to Thomas Schaafs opinion: "Freiburg won't do us the favour of playing as offensively as Stuttgart did. That suited our style and was the reason for such an exciting and high-class game. One thing is clear, the SportClub will not play into our hands," clarified Schaaf.

Freiburg Strong At-Home

Freiburg have proved especially strong this season at home in the Dreisam stadium, the "Breisgau-Brasilianer" have secured 29 of their 33 points there, an impressive rate. Away from home on the other hand is a different story. SC Freiburg are still awaiting their first win on foreign turf. The South-Germans shouldn't have any relegation problems, with 33 points and now in tenth position the leagues best newcommer are safely in mid-table.

On questioning him about the particular strenght of his next opponent, Thomas Schaaf singled out their game-play for praise: "Everyone in the Bundesliga knows how well they combine - that together with the teams work rate is a dangerous mix, one of which e'll have to be careful." The Bremen coach is also impressed by the attacking abilities of the "Breisgauer": "They are in possession of two dangerous strikers with Iashvili and Cairo."

Schaaf Warns Of Antar and Coulibali

There is no doubting the heart of Freiburgs' passing game lies in the middle of the park. Ex-HSV star Coulibaly is one of SC's most valuable players, the Lebonesse player now has seven goals on his account. In Coulibaly,Volker Finke has a player in his ranks who can decide a game on his own and Thomas Schaaf knows that too: "We can't allow too many set pieces, Coulibaly has an amazing right foot."

So far as the Werder line-up is concerned, some changes from the Stuttgart game will be made. Christian Schulz will have to sit out Sundays game because of his double caution in the last match, his replacement in the outside left position is still not clear. Most likely is the return of Paul Stalteri to the left side of the back four. The return of Ümit Davala is also an alternative on the right. Slight doubts still hang over the participation of captain Frank Baumann and Ivan Klasnic. Ankle problems for both players forced them out of contention for this weeks round of international friendlies. Klasnic will more than likely rejoin training on Friday but Thomas Schaaf has high hopes for "Baumi" too: "It's a good thing that we don't play until Sunday, maybe Frank will make it back by then."

Werders game plan for Sundays clash with SC Freiburg is definately clear: "We want to close our opponent down early and use our attacking qualities to best effect - we want to keep their defence as busy as possible", explained Head-coach Thomas Schaaf. Nice prospects for the supporters in a most likely to capacity filled Weser stadium.