Good news for SV Werder! Lukas Schmitz, Tom Trybull and Aleksandar Ignjovski were able to complete their first complete football-specific training session Tuesday afternoon with athletics trainer Reinhard Schnittker. Depending on the level of burden, all three are expected to return to team training over the next few days.

"Iggy has recovered from his stomach muscle strain and will be fully available for training in two to three days," said Werder coach Robin Dutt following the afternoon session. Regarding Trybull (stress reaction in foot) and Schmitz (broken tarsal), the Werder coach was a bit less optimistic. "They completed very successfully their first rehab programs. But you cannot at this point say exactly when they will return in full to team training. It could go relatively quickly but it could take a while as well," said Dutt.

International player Cedrick Makiadi (Democratic Republic of Congo) has already returned to Bremen after his national team break in Togo and trained with the team on Tuesday. Özkan Yildirim took a mini-break after his return from the German U21 national team, for whom he did not play Monday night. "Ötzi slightly injured himself in training. His neck is stiff. Maybe he can return tomorrow, maybe it will take a bit longer," said Dutt. The two remaining international players will return to Bremen on Wednesday. Sebastian Prödl (Austria) and Theodor Gebre Selassie (Czech Republic) were still battling for a World Cup ticket Tuesday evening.