All of Germany will be watching their national team's World Cup semi-final against Spain on Wednesday. It will be a repeat of the Euro2008 final. But this time things should go differently with Werder's sports bosses seeing the stylish German side with a slight advantage. "You have to congratulate this team for how they have played up to now. I am convinced that we will be sitting in front of the television on Sunday on Norderney and watching a final with German participation," believes coach Thomas Schaaf. And the Werder head man hopes to see plenty of Green-White players on the pitch Wednesday night.

Schaaf's favoured candidate to replace the yellow card-suspended Thomas Müller would be Marko Marin. "I wish Marko would get more playing time. Maybe this is his chance now," said Schaaf. And manager Klaus Allofs added: "It is totally normal that we wish as many Werder players as possible can gather success with the national team. Marko has already showed how valuable he can be."

But Mesut Özil, Per Mertesacker and Co. will definitely not have an easy game against the very successful Spaniards. Werder know from experience that Spanish teams are difficult to beat. "I am convinced that our national team can play even better than they have thus far at this World Cup tournament," said Schaaf. And Allofs immediately recalled a player fresh from his Werder memory - David Villa, who scored three goals for Valencia in their 4-4 draw with Bremen. "I hope that he does not score as many goals on Wednesday as he did against us. Actually I hope that he doesn't score any goals," said Allofs.