As in the double matchday on the last weekend of the training camp in Zell am See-Kaprun, with the games against Watford and SD Eibar, Peter Bosz will again divide his squad into two teams with both line-ups playing the full 90 minutes. "We are already further ahead than we were at the training camp and you could see that in today's training session. It was no walk in the park – it was really hard work. But that's what the pre-season has to be about," said the head coach. "On Sunday, we have to make sure we avoid the mistakes we made in the previous friendlies. We want to be better and work on our game."
Anybody wanting to get a double helping of the Werkself on Sunday can purchase tickets for the matchday for three euros at the Bayer 04 shop in Wiesdorf (Wiesdorfer Platz 9, 51373 Leverkusen) or at the Fan House (Breidenbachstraße 46, 51373 Leverkusen). Proceeds from the ticket sales will be donated to the Leverkusen Fan Project.
Our opponents:
Heracles Almelo:
Almelo finished seventh in the Eredivisie last season. The club top scorer was the Spanish striker Adrian Dalmau with 19 goals. The team is managed by Frank Wormuth, who previously worked for the DFB as the Germany U20 coach and also as head of coach training. Bayer 04 coach Peter Bosz was twice in charge at Heracles, from 2004 to 2006 plus 2010 to 2013. Almelo reached the third qualifying round of the Europa League in 2016 but were knocked out after two draws with FC Arouca (1-1 and 0-0).
Vitesse Arnhem:
Peter Bosz also coached Vitesse from 2013 to January 2016 before moving on to Israel to take the helm at Maccabi Tel Aviv. Arnhem were fifth in the Eredivisie last season but missed out on qualification for the Europa League in the play-offs with a 2-0 defeat against Utrecht. The top scorer in the league last term was Bryan Linssen with twelve goals and the Norwegian Martin Ödegaard, on loan from Real Madrid, found the back of the net eight times. In 2017, Vitesse won the Dutch domestic cup competition with a 2-0 victory in the final against AZ Alkmaar. The current Arnhem coach is Leonid Sluzki, who previously was the Russia coach at Euro 2016. Bayer 04 beat Vitesse 4-0 in a friendly during the pre-season in 2013.
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.
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The current Werkself player Arthur, global star Vinícius Júnior and Brazil legend Zico – they all played for the youth teams at CR Flamengo. The U20 team at the big club from Rio de Janeiro is one of the best academies in Brazil and has produced a lot of stars as well as securing national and international trophies over the past few years. Ahead of the friendly against the Werkself today, Friday 18 July (kick-off: 14:30/19:30 CEST) bayer04.de profiles the highly successful youth team.
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Alejo 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.
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The 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.
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