Internationals: “Good for club and players”

After the 2-0 victory over Hamburg in the North Derby, 11 Werder players started the week by leaving for national team duty and were unavailable to head coach Thomas Schaaf for Monday's training. But the coach saw the numerous national team call-ups as a positive. "We are happy when they have international appearances. It's good for them and for the club," said Schaaf.

The pitch was small and the goals were close together, making it clear to see at the one-hour training session that a large number of players were on national team duty. U20 German internationals Niclas Füllkrug and Tom Trybull may not be leaving for their friendly against Poland until Wednesday but the coaching staff was still missing a number of players. It was visible on the remaining players that they enjoyed getting the first three points of the season over the weekend. Eljero Elia was extremely happy about the 2-0 win over his former club. "That was a super important victory and good for the team before they all head out to their national teams," said the Dutch player, who with a strong start to the season could even get a nomination for the Oranje XI.

Keeper Sebastian Mielitz, who kept his sheet clean in his first home North Derby against Hamburg, also praised the team's performance. "We showed quite a bit against Hamburg, but not everything is working yet," said Mielitz ahead of the long international break before the next away match in Hannover on Saturday 15 September 2012 at 3:30 p.m. "It's important that we found ourselves again quickly after the national team break."

Match winner Aaron Hunt sees it the same. "There are still more details to fine tune. We can still play a lot better. It's nice to go into the international break with a success," said Hunt, who wishes his national team colleagues good luck. "I hope that our internationals all return healthy." In addition to Hunt, Elia and Co, Nils Petersen is also racing around the pitch at Weser Stadium. The 23-year-old picked up his first goal for the Green-Whites against Hamburg. And the goal came at the perfect time for the striker. "For me the goal was especially important, now before the national team break. Now I can go into the training sessions even more motivated," said Petersen.

Not at training was Joseph Akpala, who Schaaf said "still had some private things to deal with." The Nigerian is expected back at team training on Tuesday morning at 10 a.m.