Florian Kohfeldt’s side have travelled south from Germany to South Africa for their winter training camp. Werder flew from Bremen to Johannesburg via Frankfurt and the Green-Whites will prepare for the second half of the season until 12th January 2019. The players will train at Randburg AFC and will play in two friendlies against Kaiser Chiefs and BidVest Wits, who currently lead the South African premier division.
Florian Kohfeldt has taken 29 players to South Africa for the winter training camp, inclyding Fin Bartels and Philipp Bargfrede as they continue to recover from injuries. “Fin Bartels will participate in an encouraging amount of team training in South Africa. We will continue to monitor him until he is able to fully return to training. Bargi’s situation is different and he is able to return to full training alongside Niklas Moisander, who suffered a knock against Leipzig,” said coach Kohfeldt before the flight. Bartels has been out of action for over twelve months with an torn achilles tendon while Bargfrede missed matches in December with an achilles problem.
Alongside the full Bundesliga squad, academy talents Fridolin Wagner, Illia Gruev, David Philipp, Manuel Mbom and Jan-Niklas Beste have also travelled to South Africa. However, Yuya Osako is not with the squad as he is on international duty with Japan at the Asian Cup. Osako will hope to feature in Japan’s opening match against Turkmenistan on 9th January.
The Green-Whites will prepare for the second half of the season in warm, summery conditions of around 29 degrees. “We have established weaknesses both offensively and defensively,” explained Kohfeldt. The Werder head coach will also speak with all of the players individually. “The altitude shouldn’t affect our training camp, but it means we will have to adapt to the conditions at the beginning of the trip,” explained the Werder coach looking ahead to staying 1,700m above sea level.
On Tuesday, 8th January, the Green-Whites will visit the ‘Amandla Safe Hub Diepsloot’ to get a picture of what the society is like in South Africa. Furthermore, the players will enjoy a reception together with the German embassy in Pretoria on Thursday, 10th January. “Every player should get the chance to enjoy visiting a new country,” explained Kohfeldt, who has also set one day aside so that the players can explore and relax.
The full Werder squad travelling to South Africa:
Jiri Pavlenka, Stefanos Kapino, Luca Plogmann, Jaroslav Drobny – Felix Beijmo, Claudio Pizarro, Ludwig Augustinsson, Kevin Möhwald, Florian Kainz, Martin Harnik, Max Kruse, Milot Rashica, Milos Veljkovic, Sebastian Langkamp, Nuri Sahin, Niklas Moisander, Josh Sargent, Fin Bartels, Theodor Gebre Selassie, Johannes Eggestein, Fridolin Wagner, Ilia Gruev, Davy Klaassen, David Philipp, Marco Friedl, Manuel Mbom, Maximilian Eggestein, Jan-Niklas Beste and Philipp Bargfrede
