Werder Bremen- Bayern Munich
Football : Germany : DFB Cup Final
Olympic Stadium in Berlin
Saturday, 15th May 2010 – kickoff 20:00

Werder Bremen

Werder Bremen had a fantastic season finishing third in the Bundesliga with 61 points and clinched the last place that leads into Champions league qualifications. After their poor start that finish was more than the club expected from this season.

The crown of the season will be the DFB Cup final against Bayern Munich, and also they did very good in the Europa league where they have reached the quarterfinals where they were eliminated by Valencia without losing in two exciting matches (two 1-1 and 4-4 draws).

Werder Bremen are taking this DFB Cup Final seriously as they had couple of closed training sessions during this last week and the team will be additionally motivated with the premium of 100,000 Euros per player if they win the Cup.

Last year Werder Bremen were in this very same position playing in the Cup Final and they have won the Pokal beating Bayer Leverkusen with the only goal by the 21-year-old midfielder Mesut Özil who played an important role for the team this season as he was one of the best players in the squad with nine goals and sixteen assists.

Ozil is also selected to play for Germany at the World Cup in South Africa and for this match he will take his standard position as a playmaker in the middle behind Pizarro, Marin and Hunt. All of the Werder Bremen players have played a DFB Cup Final before and only for three players – the youngsters Marko Marin and Phillip Bargfrede and the experienced Per Mertesacker this will be a debut.

There are no suspended or injured players in the squad for this match. Last week only Tim Borowski has missed one training session due to a knock in the thigh which he had received in the last Bundesliga season match against Hamburger SV but that is not as serious as thought and he will be available for selection on Saturday.

Bayern Munich

Bayern Munich have won their 22nd title as German champions last week when they beat Hertha Berlin 3-1 away and ended their fairytale Bundesliga season. After their terrible start and being placed at the mid table, coach van Gaal was on verge to be sacked as head coach, and there were problems among the players who complained against coach`s training methods.

But they managed to rise and win the championship with 70 points, holding the record as best offensive team (72 goals scored) and best defensive team (31 goals conceded). Coach Van Gaal is named Coach of The Season in German Bundesliga and Arjen Robben was named Best Bundesliga Player. Robben has scored 22 goals for the team this season, 16 of them in the Bundesliga.

Ivica Olic will be in the attack for this match together with Thomas Müller, and also Olic has been impressive this season. Since he joined the team from Hamburger SV one year ago, in 39 appearances for Bayern Munich, Olic has scored 18 goals and nine assists. He has also scored in the last round of the season in the victory against Hertha Berlin.

The Betting Verdict

The first match this last season between these teams ended in 1-0 victory for Werder Bremen in Munich back in the last August, and in January Bayern Munich won in Bremen 3-2 with a late free-kick goal of Arjen Robben. Interesting fact is that since that loss at the end of January, Werder Bremen went on an impressive unbeaten run until the end of the Bundesliga season.

Bayern Munich and Werder Bremen have met twice in the DFB Cup final so far in two consecutive seasons. In 1999 Werder Bremen have won 5-4 after extra time and in the year 2000 Bayern Munich won 3-0. But that is ancient history now and the teams are quite different from back then.

Werder Bremen are the second best offensive team (71 goals scored) behind Bayern Munich and finished the season strong. On the other side Bayern Munich are still in the run for the treble of silverware as after the Cup Final they will play in the Champions league final next Saturday.

Cup Finals are always harder to predict especially when the big teams are in it, and often they are decided in a moment of inspiration and high motivation of some players. Both teams have great individuals that fit in well for the team and i expect this to be an entertaining and offensive game.

I am not sure if the winner will be decided in 90 minutes of play but i think that we will see some goals here. Probably the best bet is to play on over 2.5 goals and a possible draw match in the regular time.

The Pick :

Werder Bremen 2-2 Bayern Munich

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

Take the over 2.5 goals as a main bet in this match.

And you can also try betting on the draw after regular time.