His team led 6: 1, and the opponent in the remote duel, Fortuna Düsseldorf, was 0: 3 behind, there was less than a minute to play, and yet Florian Kohfeldt looked nervous. The look twitched, the trainer from Werder Bremen captured by the TV cameras at that moment ran a hand over his face, then shouted in the direction of the referee to whistle. When the game was actually over shortly afterwards, Kohfeldt did not raise his arms, nor did he seek the proximity of his players. He marched towards the cabin.
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The pressure that had been on his team, himself, the whole SV Werder, was immense, Kohfeldt said later. So he “took a moment for me alone”.
Florian Kohfeldt was the face of the Bremen upswing last season, the first season in a long time in which the Bremen team never really worried about relegation. And he is the face of the Bremen crash that almost led directly to the second division. Werder was able to prevent this relegation from the Bundesliga at least for the time being. Düsseldorf will be second division in the future, Werder get the chance to stay in the relegation against Heidenheim or Hamburger SV. Who will be opponents will decide in the afternoon (3:30 p.m .; TV: Sky; Liveticker SPIEGEL.de).
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The 6: 1 against Cologne was a few minutes old when the song line “Here the SVW rules” came from the speakers in the stadium. In truth, the SVW had almost never done this season, the Bremen had won a single home game until this last matchday. Perhaps there would not have been a second time had it not been for the corona break.
When the game had to be interrupted in March due to the coronavirus pandemic, the people of Bremen were in desolate shape. They had got one point from the six league games before, they looked unsettled, but also simple: not fit. Running data shows that the team sprinted barely more often than their opponent during a game.
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Perhaps one was too ambitious, said sports director Frank Baumann at the beginning of the year looking back on the season preparation. You wanted to change a few things, it was about training planning, you wanted to tickle a few percent more out of the team. The club has raised its ambitions. Because what followed was an injury plague with up to eleven professionals who were missing at the same time.
The fitness deficits that the team carried around could be remedied during the forced break. Some players said he was in better physical shape than he had in a long time. That did not suddenly make Werder a top team in the Bundesliga. Because of course the problems weren’t just in the athletic area.
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“We have reached the relegation. It is therefore not suddenly all good that was bad the day before yesterday”
Werder coach Florian Kohfeldt at the press conference after the game against Cologne
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