On Saturday evening, the 17 travelling Bayer 04 players, in a good mood after three Bundesliga wins in succession, boarded the team bus for the journey to Frankfurt Airport. Jonathan Tah and Co. stayed overnight in an airport hotel before flying out to St Louis on Sunday morning. The Werkself met up with the Hamburg SV team in departures. The second division club also flew out to the USA on Sunday to spend several days in Los Angeles. There was time for a short chat between HSV player Tim Leibold (left in photo) and Robert Andrich before the plane for St Louis left German soil on time at 10.45 CET.
The Werkself players were able to catch up on an hour or two of sleep during the nine-hour direct flight and everybody was back on their feet on arrival in St Louis in the USA state of Missouri – where they received an ecstatic reception from Black and Red fans.
The players, coaching staff including manager Xabi Alonso plus the board took plenty of time out at the exit from the airport to sign autographs and pose for selfies with the fans. Fernando Carro, Bayer 04 CEO, spoke to American TV reporters: "St. Louis is an absolute football city. We are happy to finally be back here and play the opening match at the new St Louis CITYPARK Stadium on Wednesday."
Following a late lunch at the team hotel, several of the Werkself players headed off on the team bus to take a look at the newly built stadium.
The tour of the stadium of the future MLS club started with the training ground, which is also brand-new, located right next to the stadium with its state-of-the-art technology. The group including Kerem Demirbay, Nadiem Amiri, Florian Wirtz and Co. walked past the training pitch to have the first look at the CITYPARK Stadium.
After visiting the spacious home dressing room it was off to the pitch to take a closer look at the interior of the stadium. Amiri and Co. are set to play a friendly against St. Louis CITY SC on Wednesday to officially open the brand new venue (kick-off: 16 November, 19.00 local time/02.00 CET 17 November)..
Day two of the #Bayer04USATour starts for the players with a training session followed by media interviews at the training ground. The Black and Reds will then set off in the afternoon to the Bayer AG research centre in Chesterfield, 30 minutes away from the team hotel. That will be followed by a visit to the Soccer Clinics at Lou Fusz and the last part of the day in the evening with dinner at the city’s zoo.
A first win in the preseason: In the last friendly before the start of a two-week break in training, the Bayer 04 Women beat top-flight Dutch side Ajax 1-0. In the match played over three 30-minute thirds Vanessa Fudalla scored the goal for the Werkself. In the previous two friendlies this summer, the team led by head coach Roberto Pätzold lost 2-0 two Bundesliga rivals TSG Hoffenheim and drew 1-1 with the Dutch team PEC Zwolle.
Show moreAlejo Sarco has joined the Werkself training camp in Brazil. The 19-year-old striker, signed from Argentinian club Vélez Sarsfield in January, talks to bayer04.de about his first six months in Germany, help from Exequiel Palacios and his targets up to the end of the year.
Show moreThe friendly against the CR Flamengo U20 team on Friday, 18 July (kick-off: 14:30/19:30 CEST) represents the sporting highlight of the current Bayer 04 Brazil Tour. Ahead of the clash at the Estádio da Gávea against the highly successful youth team, there was a media event with the two Bayer 04 managing directors Fernando Carro and Simon Rolfes plus head coach Erik ten Hag. The trio talked about the forthcoming opponents, first impressions of Brazil and the reasons for holding the training camp in the land of the five-time World Cup winners. Here are the key statements.
Show moreDay three of the Bayer 04 Brazil Tour. Today, Thursday 17 July, sees the two new signings Jarell Quansah and Christian Kofane join the squad in training. Plus the former Werkself players Paulo Sergio and Rodrigo Chagas visit the Bayer AG Football School. In the afternoon there is a big media event ahead of the friendly against the Flamengo U20s. As usual, Bayer04.de keeps you up-to-date with on-the-spot reports. The blog for day three of the Bayer 04 Brazil Tour (timings given in local time).
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