In the second friendly of the day in Zell am Ziller, Werder righted the wrongs of the previous game and came away with a 1-0 win against second tier side MSV Duisburg. Johannes Eggestein scored the winner. The spectators in attendance had to wait a while for any meaningful attacking action before the forward found the back of the net in the 24th minute. The second half saw Kohfeldt’s side up the tempo once more and remain solid in defence, although they couldn’t quite find a second goal.
Line-up and formation: Just like the first friendly of the day against Příbram, Kohlfeldt decided for a 4-3-3 formation to face Duisburg, although he switched the entire side. First choice goalkeeper Jiri Pavlenka started in net, while Theodor Gebre Selassie, Sebastian Langkamp, Niklas Moisander and Thore Jacobsen made up the back four. Philipp Bargfrede was the pivot in midfield, with Maxi Eggestein and Kevin Möhwald accompanying him in the centre of the park. Martin Harnik, Johannes Eggestein and Max Kruse started up top, with Kruse wearing the captain’s armband.
Highlights:
24th minute: GOAL FOR WERDER (1-0), Johannes Eggestein - Harnik tries to break through in a central position, but he loses possession in the process. However, the ball rolled into the path of the onrushing Johannes Eggestein, who directed the ball into the left corner from 16 metres out.
43rd minute: Kruse finds some space in the middle and has a go from distance, but his shit is too high and flies over the bar by a good two metres.
45+1 minute: The referee blows for half-time. Just like earlier in the day, Werder took a 1-0 lead into the dressing rooms.
56th minute: Gebre Selassie covers a lot of ground to get into Duisburg’s half before switching the ball to Jacobsen. Möhwald snaps up the cross and then pushes into the box, releasing a powerful shot in the process that demands a very good save.
78th minute: Duisburg forward suddenly finds himself in space to run towards the Werder goal, but Wagner and Pavlenka combine to deny the ‘Zebras’ from equalising out of nothing.
90+1 minute: Werder’s Sunday double header comes to an end. After conceding late on against Czech first division side Příbram, Bremen stayed strong to hold on this time.
Florian Kohfedlt: “In general it’s been a positive day, even though there were times when I wasn’t happy with how we played. We stayed calm to break them down a few times, but there were other points where we really lacked that. It’s something that we will work on. All of the boys worked together and pushed themselves to their limits. Another good thing is we avoided injuries, including Kevin Möhwald who is doing fine.”
Johannes Eggestein: “We can be very happy with how the second half went. We were a bit poor in the first half and didn’t really stick to our game plan. We spoke about that in the break and then fared much better. I’m obviously very happy to have scored and I’m also very happy that Josh scored earlier in the day too.
Werder Bremen: Pavlenka – Gebre Selassie, Langkamp, Moisander, Jacobsen – Bargfrede (61‘ Wagner), M. Eggestein, Möhwald – Kruse (c), Harnik (81‘ Sargent), J. Eggestein
MSV Duisburg: Davari – Wiegel, Nauer, Bomheuer, Seo – Gartner, Fröde, Cauly, Gyau – Iljutcenko, Tashchy (first half
Mesenhöler – Engin, Hajri, Neumann, Blomeyer, Wolze – Albutat, Schnellhardt, Stoppelkamp – Sukuta-Pasu, Verhoek (second half)
Goals: 1-0 J. Eggestein (24‘)
Parkstadion, Zell am Ziller: 1,000 attendance
