Werder fall against "Fener"

SV Werder Bremen lost their test match Tuesday evening 23 August 2011 against Turkish record champions Fenerbahce 1-0 with Özer Hurmaci scoring the only goal for Fenerbahce in the 76th minute of an entertaining match at osnatel Arena in Düsseldorf.

Werder head coach Thomas Schaaf used the game to test players with little playing time recently. After playing about 60 minutes against St. Pauli, Werder defender Naldo played the entire 90 minutes against Fenerbahce while 17-year-old Levent Aycicek appeared in his first contest with the professional team. "First of all, these kinds of games are there to give players game experience - regardless of result," said manager Klaus Allofs. "I was happy that Naldo held up 90 minutes. We could not have dreamt that a month and a half ago." Schaaf had a mixed feelings about the showing, adding: "Once again we saw some good things but also some weaknesses and mistakes. We allowed a few chances but also had some opportunities ourselves. You could see especially with the goal that some guys still have some catching up to do."

The match, which by name could have been a Champions League showdown, was slow to get going but in general was very entertaining. Fenerbahce scored the winning goal in the 76th minute. Ugur Boral got through the left side and crossed to Hurmaci, who was a step quicker than Naldo and left Werder keeper Sebastian Mielitz no chance to block the short-distance attempt as Werder were dealt a 1-0 defeat.