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.
Taiwan kept its hopes of advancing to the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome last night, backed by solid pitching. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. The win was crucial for Taiwan, as a loss would have eliminated the team from contention for the next WBC. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸) struck out one and allowed no hits, except for
The Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) is considering reducing its pitch clock by two seconds to help players better adjust to the rules applied at the World Baseball Classic (WBC). The proposal aims to shorten the pitch timer from 25 seconds to 23 seconds with the bases empty, and from 20 seconds to 18 seconds with runners on base. Currently, the WBC mandates that pitchers deliver a pitch every 18 seconds with the bases empty and 15 seconds with runners on base. The issue was raised during a pre-season CPBL managers’ meeting on Tuesday by Rakuten Monkeys bench and batting
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