In the third friendly game of their training camp in Belek, Turkey, Werder Bremen took a 5:1 battering from Russian first division side FC Saturn Ramenskoje. Trainer Thomas Schaaf had opted to start with an exceptionally young and inexperienced eleven against the side from the Moscow suburb and began the game with six almost completely untested youngsters. Schaaf’s men were faced by a clever and extremely effective Russian side who took almost every chance they created to inflict more pain upon the young Werder side. The Green-Whites on the other hand often saw their efforts go agonisingly close but only counting on a single occasion. General manager Klaus Allofs saw no excuse for the stinging result after the game though: “No matter in which formation we play, results such as this have to be avoided.”

Thomas Schaaf’s men had enough opportunities to impress their own stamp upon the tie with Aaronm Hunt (5’) and Leon Andreasen (13’ / 15’) both wasting chances to put their side in front. With the Green-Whites failing to produce, at the other end the Russian’s gave a impressive display of cleverness when an opening presented itself. Ivanov used a mistake in the Werder defence to give his team the lead, leaving goalkeeper Nico Pellatz no chance (21’). Leon Andreasen had another shot on goal go narrowly astray before Pellatz was tested at the other end by a header from former Bundesliga striker Mario Topic which the young keeper did excellently to turn over the crossbar. From the resulting corner, Topic made no mistake and double his sides lead going into the half-time break – 2:0 (32’).

’Killer’ instinct

“The trainer warned the lads to get stuck into the challenges”, explained Klaus Allofs as he sent out Sebastian Mielitz (goalkeeper), Max Kruse, Ivan Klasnic and John Jairo Mosquera for the second period. The Saturn trainer took the opportunity to change his complete team for the second period and early on the Green-Whites dealt well with the Russians, doing exactl< what the trainer had demanded of them. “We started the second half really well but then we lost our shape – that was annoying”, admitted Allofs.

Ivan Klasnic had the chance to put Werder back within touching distance of the Russians from the penalty spot in the 53rd minute, after a foul on Mosquera,but keeper Botviniev saved from the experienced striker. Just minutes later the Croatian international found himself with a sight of goal again but couldn’t take that chance either. Eventually the ‘Killer’ was able to make use of an opening in the 62nd minute as an impressive Aaron Hunt broke into the box and passed to Kruse who in turn picked out Klasnic and this time the striker picked his spot and finished off the move to make it 1:2 from Werder’s perspective.

Ice cold and effective

With Werder in the driving seat, it was their poor finishing that was to prove their downfall as the Russians pounced on their every sight of goal and capitalised on the slightest mistake by the German side. Sandro Stahlbaum failed to control a clearance by Mielitz and the ball fell to a ‘Blue’ who delivered a perfect cross into the box for Jakubko to convert (72’). It was a further mistake which led to the 1:4. Frank Baumann had made a foul 20 meters out from his own goal and Mielitz could only parry the resulting free-kick and Vorobiev reacted quickest to convert the loose ball (79’).

As Vorobiev made it 5:1 for Saturn, there was little resilience from Werder. Jurica Vranjes later attempted to rationalise the heavy defeat: “The Russians were fresher than we were. It was clear to see that we were feeling the effects of the strenuous training camp.” The Croatian looked to the time left in Belek and in Germany for Thomas Svhaaf’s men to steady themselves before the Bundesliga re-starts: “We’ll get a grip on everything”, ensured the midfielder. His international colleague Ivan Klasnic followed up by saying: “I’ve have always lost in Turkey but we then started the second half of the season with a win”. Positive thinking would appear to be the way to go!!

John Muldoon