Füllkrug scores, Werder wins: thanks to the top striker’s renewed accuracy, Werder Bremen has ended its negative run in the Bundesliga. With his first goal since the beginning of October, Niclas Füllkrug ensured Bremen’s 1-0 (0-0) victory over Hertha BSC on Friday (85th minute) and provided another argument for the leap into the World Cup squad of national coach Hansi flick. After three previous league games without a win or a goal, Werder moved up to sixth place for the time being. Hertha is still stuck in the lower middle of the table.
If something went forward in this weak game in front of 42,100 spectators, it was through Füllkrug and Marvin Ducksch. The Werder strike duo was kept well under control by the Hertha defense most of the time. If one of the two was able to get loose, it became dangerous immediately. After some good preparatory work by Füllkrug, Ducksch (26′) shot just over the goal from a tight angle. Five minutes later, Füllkrug then tried a flick himself, which Berlin goalkeeper Oliver Christensen was able to parry to a corner.
Filling jug and the World Cup chance
In general: Will he fly to the World Cup in Qatar or will national coach Hansi Flick leave him at home? Neither Bremen’s head of sport Frank Baumann nor captain Marco Friedl, who was suspended, wanted to comment on this before the game. In the game, the 29-year-old only rarely attracted attention – until he finally struck with his head shortly before the end. Flick should have registered that too.
“It’s the best feeling to get such a late win at home. This is special. It’s nice that I could help too,” said Füllkrug afterwards at DAZN. “We could have scored a goal in the first half, but we scored in the end.” The 29-year-old did not want to comment on a possible future in the DFB dress and also did not want to confirm that he was on a provisional squad list for the World Cup in Qatar. “Of course I know which lists I’m on,” he said, however, and went on to say that he knew where he was and we should see where that would lead in the end. “The decision is not mine, so I can’t express any wishes,” said Füllkrug in conclusion.
Overall, not much came from Hertha. Both teams often struggled with the crucial deep pass, and both teams repeatedly engaged in stubborn duels, which meant that there was hardly any space gained. If any danger arose, it arose from individual actions. For example, Dodi Lukebakio just missed his sixth goal of the season after Solo (19th).
Werder Bremen: Back on the road to success after three defeats.
:
Image: dpa
The guests also made individual mistakes, especially in midfield. Suat Serdar in particular didn’t play well in the first half. With his ball losses or pass errors, the 25-year-old invited Bremen to counterattack a number of times. A further complication for the team coached by Sando Schwarz was that attacker Stevan Jovetic had to be replaced after just over half an hour. Hertha first became halfway dangerous in the 56th minute when Lukebakio shot wide.
Otherwise, at least offensively, almost nothing went together – until Bremen’s Mitchell Weiser suddenly found himself free in front of Christensen shortly before the end. After a low cross from Romano Schmid, he didn’t hit the ball properly. It was all the better just before the end, however, at the end of the day. After a cross from Anthony Jung, he rose from the penalty spot and headed the ball over Christensen to score the winning goal.
For Berlin’s Marco Richter it was still a “classic 0-0 game”, but the striker also admitted: “It’s just easy with the filling jug that the ball then falls in.”
