Friendly ire: Hammers' clash against Werder Bremen clash is called off

18 July 2009 17:14
West Ham United suffered a pre-season blow when their scheduled friendly against German Cup winners Werder Bremen was called off because of bad weather. Gianfranco Zola's side had originally been due to travel 50km from their base to take on Bremen in Bad Waltersdorf before extreme weather conditions in eastern Austria led to the pitch being deemed unplayable. Instead the squad had an extra training session on Saturday evening. Several senior first-team players had been set to get their first taste of pre-season match action after only joining up with the squad on Monday following games with their national teams in June. Portugal's Luis Boa Morte was set for his first outing this summer along with England trio Robert Green, Matthew Upson and Carlton Cole. New signing Luis Jimenez was also hoping to get his first taste of action in a West Ham shirt, although Scott Parker had not been expected to play after only three days of training this week. The Hammers hope to continue their summer schedule in Austria against Bursaspor on Wednesday and then at Slovenian side ND Mura 05 on Thursday.

Source: Daily_Mail