Sokratis debut without happy end

Werder Bremen finished their friendly tournament for the Memorial Cup in the southern English port city of Southampton without a victory on Saturday 23 July 2011. The Green-Whites lost the opening game against second division FC Southampton 3-0 before falling to Spanish side Athletic Bilbao 2-1. Philipp Bargfrede equalised the game in the 36th minute.

Werder coach Thomas Schaaf was unsatisfied with his team's showing. "That was not good today, that was nothing. I think we were still on the plane. Of course you can explain it with the arrival. But we still should have shown more. The second game was a little better, we got some more shots. In the first game we were much too lethargic, I could sense that directly in the changing room. You can lose a game but when you play like we did today that's not excusable," said Schaaf.

Despite the disappointing showing, a Scottish fan club showed that the Green-Whites have an international following as the Scots loudly sang their support during both games for Werder. And Bremen went to the fan curve to their supporters as well as applauding the many Southampton fans at St. Mary's Stadium.

Opening loss to FC Southampton 3-0

Schaaf had different line-ups for both 45-minute games with Werder's new Greek player Sokratis Papastathopoulos debuting in the second match against Bilbao. His teammates had major difficulties against Southampton and allowed goals in the 11th, 30th and 40th minutes for a clear 3-0 defeat.

After a 45-minute break, Werder played another shortened game against Bilbao where Papastathopoulos pulled over the Werder jersey for the first time. "He went into the challenges, which you did not see from all the other players," said Schaaf about the Greek's performance. The Spanish went ahead in the 22nd minute before Philipp Bargfrede equalised in the 36th minute. But Herrera scored the game winner two minutes later for Bilbao.