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Published: August 21st 2006
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International Fans...
Roger and Justin all rearing to go with their "Konig im Norden" crowns and 'Danke' flags. Werder Bremen vs Bayer 04 Leverkusen... the match we had been waiting for.
Werder Bremens first home game of the 2006/2007 season and we had tickets. Making it our first live European soccer game.
Saturday the 19th of August, 2006 was match day. That morning we dressed our selves to support Werder our adopted team in true Bremen style. With scarves in hand we were off. Our only problem, again a lack of German vocabulary. Unable to sing Werders tunes in German we had to modify them a little, to fit in. Our version of their club song went some thing like this...
"Wer-der Brem-men.... something, something yeh... do-di-do-do-doo-do do-di-do-do-doooo"
From our house we ventured into town to meet the others and made our way to Wesser Stadium. Conviently there was a bus waiting at the tram stop to take us directly to the stadium. So we hopped on instead of waiting for a tram which would go most of the way. While the bus may have saved us 10min it was a big mistake! With all the other Werder faithfuls crammed into the bus there was standing room only making it a stuffy heater on wheels.
The Chuppa Chup Stand
This is me... made to look like a chuppa chup stand, holding all three flags and my crown.
Very supporter like - don't you think? The bus was not the quickest means of transport as it got stuck in supporter traffic for way to long. We stood up, in stop-start traffic for what seemed like an eternity till eventually we were set free. Uttering a sigh of relief in chorus with the other passangers.
So finally breathing fresh air we walked to the stadium entrance and joined the home crowd in wearing a "Kings of the North" crown... something similar to Hungry Jacks birthday crowns. we were also given flags to say thank you to the players who representated Germany team in the World Cup (Miro Klose, Torsten Frings and Tim Borowski).
With hats, flags, and tickets in hand we entered the stadium and found our seats. We had a really good spot to sit, only a few rows back from th corner flag inline with the goal post. Giving us a good angle to see the play.
While we sat and waited for the game to start, we watched the pre-game warm up and the fan commentary that goes with every game. The crowd and the atmosphere that we observed was very cool.
I found the atmosphere in the stadium
The Wesser Studium
This was the view from our seats. And the team warming up before kick-off. much different to that of AFL games with similar size crowds. The size of the stadium, the proximity of the pitch and the obscurity of foreign supporter behaviour made for a very different feeling, but i liked it very much. Before the game the commentator read out the line up of each team, for the home side he only read the first name of each player and the entire stadium (except the visiting team) would yell out their surname. It was a very nice touch.
We attemped to join in the singing of the club song, with our modified version as you know... and gave up after one verse. So we just watched. It was almost like they were singing the national anthem, they all stood up and held out there scarfs proudly. which in turn was a very cool visual affect as 95% had at least one scarf (some had many more... and it was actually a nice warm day!).
Then before the start of play the sprinklers were turned on - which i think is quite unusual. Shortly after the sprinklers were turned off the players reamerged and lined up ready to play.
The kick
The Opposition Fans
That little fenced of section is where the opposition gets to sit. With nice high fences, and German Shepards with their security officer patroling the front gate. off!
For those of you that are interested - here is a blow by blow commentary of the match... from www.werder-bremen.de
But if your not interested, just scroll down a little and I will continue to relay the story to you in my eyes.
The Green-Whites began the game pressurising and attacking. As early as the fourth minute Werder had two chances to take the lead. From a Klasnic pass Tim Borowski brought a save from 04 Keeper Jörg Butt and seconds later Miroslav Klose whacked a cross from Pierre Womé over the bar on the volley.
With ten minutes played, the guests from the Rhein found their way into the game and created their first chance on goal through Barnetta. And Bayer took the early lead. Kießling broke into the box from the left and was caught by Pasanen as he went in for the tackle - penalty. The impressive Paul Freier took on the task and made it 1:0 for the visitors.
Just as surprisingly an equaliser was quickly scored for the home side. Diego swung a free-kick into the box from the left and Klose climbed higher than Ramelow to head home from
Bayer 04 Leverkusen
The Visitors warming up before the game. four meters out - 1:1.
Now the game was wide open and so the play swung back and forth. Three minutes later the 39,600 in the stadium were prepared for another celebration as Diego put Klose through with a clever back heel but the German ‘Footballer of the Year’ missed the target by inches from close range. At the other end the Leverkusen attack were causing problems for the Werder defence.
After the break it was the current crowd favourite Diego who pleased his fans with an attempted over-head kick from 16 meters which Butt managed to turn away. Hugo Almeida, who came for Ivan Klasnic, showed soon after his introduction the power which he possesses with a 25 meter drive which unfortunately missed the target.
When the ‘Factory Club’ did put the pressure on they looked extremely dangerous. Kießling came agonisingly close after a pass from Freier but Sergej Barbarez came even closer, after winning a sprint against Clemens Fritz, the new Bayer signing saw his shot spring away from the post. With twenty minutes to go, a sign of life from the home team. Klose laid off to Almeida who missed the target from a
Werder Bremen
Our adopted team warming up. meter out - luckily for the striker, the effort wouldn’t have counted as the Portugese international was in an offside position.
It was a counter attack in their own stadium that eventually sealed the tie for Werder. Torsten Frings set Diego on his way and the Brazilian went past three opponents before putting in a cross to the far post. Hugo Almeida was lying in wait and pushed the ball over the line from a meter away - successfully this time - to make it 2:1 for Werder. That was to be the final score with Werder missing out on a couple of further chances and Bayer only creating two unconvincing efforts through Madouni and Freier.
And back to me! So with the whistle blown and the clock stoped the home team supporters were very happy and sang their songs once again. We left our seats and the stadium, watching the Bayer fans being escorted out by riot police to save any trouble. on the way home we decided to avoid the congested public transport and enjoy the pilgramage walk back into town along the river with a few thousand other fans.
So that
Us in the Crowd
This is us... awaiting the kick-off.
Left to Right: Steve, Justin, (Roger's seat) and Me. was our European Fußball experience... we enjoyed it!
Hope you enjoy the photos...
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