After Sunday's 1-0 victory in the friendly against Al-Wahda Mecca at the end of the training camp, Wednesday marks the start of the final run-in of the pre-season: The final challenge before the first competitive match of the season in the DFB Cup away to Pforzheim in eleven days (18 August, 15.30 CET) is a friendly against the Spanish top-flight club Valencia on Saturday (21.30 CET). Heiko Herrlich now has another two players available: World Cup runner-up Tin Jedvaj plus new signing Isaac Kiese Thelin, whose loan signing was announced on Tuesday afternoon. The duo, plus latecomer Paulinho, completed the obligatory performance tests in the gym at the BayArena in the morning, which included a wide range of assessments. "I'm very happy to be back here and can hardly wait to kick a ball again," said Jedvaj, who was granted an extended holiday by Heiko Herrlich after his participation in the World Cup final in Russia.
After the intensive World Cup with an historic runners-up spot for Croatia, he certainly felt the benefit of the break. "I enjoyed every second. Now it's a question of getting up to the physical level of the others as soon as possible and having a good season," said the 22-year-old Croat who now has the date of the World Cup final on his upper arm. In tomorrow's session (16.30 CET), Jedvaj returns to the Werkself training ground for the first time in three months.
The Werkstatt was not only busy because of the performance tests. Long-term injury Joel Pohjanpalo plus Charles Aránguiz (knee) and Panos Retsos (thigh) met up on the third upper floor at the BayArena for treatment and/or to complete their individual programmes. That also applied to Lukas Hradecky – albeit on the pitch. As he did in Zell am See, the new Werkself number one wore a lacrosse mask on the pitch as he worked on his comeback with goalkeeping coach David Thiel.
The German Football League (DFL) has announced the three candidates for Bundesliga ‘Rookie of the Month’ for February. Among the candidates is Werkself player Jarell Quansah. Fans of Bayer 04 can vote for their favourite on the Bundesliga app from now until Thursday, 5 March (23:59 CET).
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On a day that celebrated 50 years of official Bayer 04 fan clubs with festivities on the pitch during the match against FSV Mainz 05 on Saturday, New York-based Werkself Warriors were proudly represented on the field by co-founder Alex Kramm.
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The Werkself conceded a goal at home for the first time since the beginning of January 67 minutes into the game against FSV Mainz 05 on Saturday. Jarell Quansah levelled late on for the final score of 1-1 to secure a point and avoid a first home defeat in six games. Bayer 04 were very critical of their performance after the game. The Werkself review.
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Rüdiger Vollborn has been at the club for 40 years, he holds the record number of Bundesliga appearances for the club (401) and is the only Bayer 04 player to have won both the UEFA Cup (1988) and the DFB Pokal (1993). And the Berliner stayed with the Werkself after ending his impressive playing career as he worked as a goalkeeping coach for the following nine years. Vollborn now works under the Bayer Cross as a fan liaison officer and club archivist. Since February 2021, the personalised Black and Red lexicon takes Werkself fans under the heading of 'Rudi recounts...' on a brief trip through the history of Bayer 04 every month…
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