#B04goesUSA – Day 8: Genuine or a copy?

The training camp is nearly over. The final full day of training saw a player return who has been missing since the end of November. Kevin Volland completed the full session on Tuesday 10 January.

Quick recovery

The Germany international has been sidelined for a long time with a serious muscle injury. Thanks to a combination of good work by the medical department and Volland himself the recovery period has been six rather than eight weeks. Head coach Roger Schmidt indicated the striker may get a run out against Atletico Mineiro tomorrow or against VfL Bochum in the friendly on 17 January at the latest. "A big compliment to everyone who has contributed to his fast recovery," said Schmidt.

68 people on tour

Only one outfield player is missing full training. 24 Werkself players made the trip to Orlando and Lars Bender completed an individual session in the morning with three days to go in the training camp. Bayer 04 flew to Florida with 68 people on board.

Brian on the red carpet

Our club mascot has become a star in the USA. A visit by Brian the Lion to Madame Tussauds and a range of photos with VIPs made of wax on the Bayer 04 Twitter account led the Sportinformationdienst (SID) news service to declare: "The club mascot is currently Bayer Leverkusen's most important ambassador. Brian the Lion, a curious-looking, cross-eyed lion with an earring, is putting in a real shift in the USA. Brian's shaggy mane can be seen in almost every photo, dancing on a stage and even on the red carpet at the Golden Globes – on the arm of star actor Ryan Gosling." There is nothing to add to this stroke of genius of investigative journalism.

Alster or Elbe

Colleagues from the press section at Hamburg SV appear to be less creative and, above all, less humorous. On social media they have adapted our 'Black or Red' challenge and turned it into a quiz and a lift entitled 'Alster or Elbe'. Our sardonic commentary 'Genuine or a copy?' has drawn a cool Hanseatic reaction on their Facebook page: Our comment was deleted – 'Prima donna or bad loser'?

Rambo ahead of Kucz

After the first energetic session in the morning, there was a less intensive session in the afternoon ahead of tomorrow's friendly against Atletico Mineiro. The outfield players went on a run while goalkeeping coach David Thiel worked with the keepers on the pitch. At the end of the training session, there was a challenge for Ramazan Özcan and Tomasz Kucz. The two goalkeepers completed a duel on an improvised golf buggy racing track. In the end the old hand from Austria won by a nose. Images of this race will be on our Facebook account in the next few days.

“Bullshit”

This is a true tabloid story. A Mexican media outlet reported that Chicharito had consulted a hypnotist in Mexico to do something to end his goal drought. When confronted with the story our number seven smiled and made a clear denial: "That's bullshit." There's nothing more to add. We are definitely looking forward to lots of goals and good performances from Chicha in the second half of the season.

You can keep up-to-date with events in Florida round-the-clock via our hashtag #B04goesUSA. Just log on toTwitter,Facebook,Instagram and Snapchat (@bayer04snaps). Information on the Werkself training camp is available here in German, English and Spanish: >> http://www.bayer04.de/goesUSA <<