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.
RECORD DEFEAT: The Shanghai-based ‘Oriental Sports Daily’ said the drubbing was so disastrous, and taste so bitter, that all that is left is ‘numbness’ Chinese soccer fans and media rounded on the national team yesterday after they experienced fresh humiliation in a 7-0 thrashing to rivals Japan in their opening Group C match in the third phase of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. The humiliation in Saitama on Thursday against Asia’s top-ranked team was China’s worst defeat in World Cup qualifying and only a goal short of their record 8-0 loss to Brazil in 2012. Chinese President Xi Jinping once said he wanted China to host and even win the World Cup one day, but that ambition looked further away than ever after a
Taiwanese badminton superstar Lee Yang broke down in tears after publicly retiring from the sport on Sunday. The two-time Olympic gold medalist held a retirement ceremony at the Taipei Arena after the final matches of the Taipei Open. Accompanied by friends, family and former badminton partners, Lee burst into tears while watching a video celebrating key moments in his professional sporting career that also featured messages from international players such as Malaysia’s Teo Ee Yi, Hong Kong’s Tang Chun-man, and Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan. “I hope that in the future when the world thinks about me, they will
Former Formosa Dreamers player Ilkan Karaman was killed in a traffic accident in Datca, Turkey, Turkish media reported yesterday. He was 34. The former Turkish national team player was reportedly hit by a car, the driver of which was allegedly drunk, while he was standing on a sidewalk, Turkish newspaper Sozcu reported. Karaman and his friends were on their way to the beach town of Dalaman to go scuba diving when they stopped at a gas station to buy gasoline, it reported. Karaman was hit by the car while waiting on a sidewalk as his friends were buying gasoline, it
ANKLE PROBLEM: Taiwan’s Ye Hong-wei and Lee Chia-hsin had a disappointing end to their tournament after an injury forced them out of their mixed doubles semi-final Taiwanese badminton ace Tai Tzu-ying on Friday was knocked out in the women’s singles quarter-finals at her last Taipei Open. The world No. 3 lost 21-18, 16-21, 22-24 to Putri Kusuma Wardani of Indonesia in a match that stretched 68 minutes at the Taipei Arena. Despite her higher ranking, Tai said she was not too sad about the loss, given her struggle with a lingering knee injury. “Wins and losses are just part of the game. Actually, I think I’m going to lose every single match considering my condition now,” said the five-time champion of the Super 300 event, who has announced plans
RSS