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Germany star helps Werder earn point at Arminia Bielefeld

Midfielder Torsten Frings gave Germany coach Joachim Loew a pre-Euro 2008 boost as he returned from injury in Werder Bremen's 1-1 draw with Arminia Bielefeld on Sunday.

The 31-year-old has endured a wretched season blighted by knee injuries and after a five month absence Frings made his Bundesliga return in the draw with Bielefeld.

Having returned to training at the start of the month, Frings was given 80 minutes by Bremen coach Thomas Schaaf, but is not in Loew's squad for tomorrow night's Euro 2008 warm-up against Switzerland in Basel.

"I felt good, but it was clear that I was not going to be able to finish the whole game," Frings said after the match.

"I am sad that we didn't manage to win the game, because we conceded a stupid goal early on, but it was a difficult situation for us," he said. "We have a problem with concentration at certain parts of the season."

Frings has only managed to play in five games for Bremen since his injury in August.

He says his goal is just to stay injury free.

"My goal for the moment it to re-find my form and stay free from injury," he said with Bremen in fourth -- nine points behind league leaders Bayern.

"I am not the answer to all the teams problems, they have got by fine without me," he said.

Oliver Kirch seized on some poor play by Tim Wiese to score in the 15th minute for Bielefeld, after the Bremen keeper punched Artur Wichnariak's cross to his feet.

Diego scored a 70th-minute penalty to level for Bremen who furiously chased a winning goal, but the Bundesliga's most prolific scoring team has gone cold of late -- producing just two goals in four games.

Also on Sunday Schalke won their third straight game 2-1, joining the hunt for Champions League berths since the three teams ahead of them failed to win over the weekend.

Gerald Asamoah headed in Christian Pander's free kick in the 12th minute, while Jermaine Jones scored on a breakaway 11 minutes later. Those were Schalke's only two attempts before the break.

"We wanted to join the top teams again -- and we reached that goal," Schalke coach Mirko Slomka said.

Schalke had seven regulars injured and Berlin came close in the second half to snatching a draw and running their unbeaten streak to seven matches. Sofian Chahed converted a 67th-minute penalty for Berlin.
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