Werder Bremen 1-1 Borussia Dortmund: All Square in Bremen

Mesut Oezil put Bremen ahead early, but Dortmund battled back to equalize and nearly won it late.

Nov 8, 2009 6:25:14 PM

Bundesliga: Werder Bremen, Mesut Özil (firo)

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Bundesliga: Werder Bremen, Mesut Özil (firo)

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Werder Bremen - Borussia Dortmund - Lineups/Stats
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Werder coach Thomas Schaaf tweaked his lineup from midweek, dropping Aaron Hunt back to midfield and substituting Hugo Almeida at the expense of Peter Niemeyer. Also, Sebastian Boenisch got the start at left back in place of Petri Pasanen.

By contrast, Dortmund coach Juergen Klopp sent out the same side that won 2-0 against Hertha a week ago.

Bremen may have in recent weeks drawn criticism for starting out slowly, but today was an altogether different case. It took just over 60 seconds to break through the Dortmund defense, but Mesut Oezil's shot was well saved by Roman Weidenfeller. Afterward, Bremen did well to win the majority of possession, but Dortmund proved a threat on the counterattack. The visitors' first chance came on six minutes, when Nuri Sahin released Nelson Valdez on the left side, but the Paraguayan forward flashed his shot wide of the far post.

Bremen were well in control throughout the first half, but for all their possession, failed to feat the Dortmund defense, which effectively featured two layers of four. The visitors' thickness at the back forced Bremen to resort to crossing, and with just one target man squaring off against Dortmund's towering defenders, Bremen were without a solution.

Despite playing on their heels, Dortmund were able to maintain defensive rigidity while also making a half-chance of two on the break. Although Bremen did not concede, defenders Naldo and Per Mertesacker had questionable ball control, and on numerous occasion came close to giving away a goal.

Bremen (and fans of the game) caught a break in the 36th minute when clinical finishing resulted in the home side opening the scoring. In transition, Aaron Hunt reached the ball on the right flank and crossed for Oezil, who in impressively cool fashion volleyed past Weidenfeller.

Needing a goal in order to take something from the match, Dortmund had no choice but to move forward, and the game opened up considerably.

In the closing seconds of the first half, Nuri Sahin and Lucas Barrios seemed to have numbers as they approached the Bremen penalty area, but the Turk was fouled by Naldo. Sahin curled the resulting free kick on target, but Tim Wiese recovered to make a spectacular save in the upper right corner, and the half ended with Bremen ahead 1-0.

The two sides entered the second half unchanged, but Dortmund came out looking the sharper team. Eight minutes in, Dortmund had scored, but Lucas Barrios was wrongly adjudged to have been offside.

Less than a minute later, Barrios netted again, but this time the goal stood. After Mertesacker miscleared a cross, Valdez struck a thunderous volley that Wiese could only parry. Barrios pounced to tap in the equalizer.

With the score level once more, both sides pressed on for the winner. In the 81st minute, Bremen substitute Markus Rosenberg was released into the penalty area and brought down from behind, but the referee waved play on. Seconds later, Valdez beat the offside trap and had only Wiese to beat, but the German goalkeeper made a world class save to preserve the scoreline.

Over the closing minutes, Dortmund were clearly the more dominant team against a Bremen side that looked increasingly fatigued. Try as they did, however, Dortmund were unable to do much going forward, and had to settle for a 1-1 draw.

After today's match, Bremen move up to second, and Dortmund into ninth place.

Clark Whitney, Goal.com

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