What is the Werder Bremen fan scene doing now?

To be more precise, what is she doing on this Thursday evening at 8 p.m. when the national team can perhaps reach the round of 16 of the World Cup after all thanks to Niclas Füllkrug?

And then maybe a little more.

In any case, the unloved tournament is a little harder to ignore for die-hard fans after his inspiring performance with the goal against Spain 1-1.

Michael Horini

Football correspondent Europe in Berlin.

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It goes without saying that there were also dedicated Werder supporters who recently called for a boycott of the World Cup.

They pointed this out with banners in the stadium, in discussions and at every opportunity.

This also gave rise to clever ideas, such as at the weekend when Werder fans called for the alternative World Cup program to visit the women's team.

More than 20,000 fans came to the Weser Stadium against Freiburg, almost breaking the attendance record in the women's Bundesliga.

But now, after Füllkrug's thrilling performance, not everything is good between Germany and the World Cup, but some things are different.

The center forward has at least turned the mood in the German team after a German World Cup start that was disastrous in every respect.

And maybe a bit in the annoyed football country.

Filling jug outdated in a good way

When the Werder fans protested against the World Cup, Füllkrug was just a Werder player with little prospect of international promotion.

But one of those who are so great in Bremen, because he not only scores one goal after the other, but also because the classic center forward also comes across as different off the pitch than many of the youth academy Bundesliga professionals.

From those training centers that produce so many faceless professionals of the new age.

And which awakens a longing in many fans for the old days of football, when stars still had nicknames like "Icke", "Tante Käthe" or "Hotte".

In any case, the Werder fans are glad that they have someone in their ranks with "Lücke" or "Fülle", as their favorite is called, who somehow still seems to be connected to these times.

In the way he plays.

And how he presents himself.

Solid and resilient, not a "social media footballer", as Mats Hummels castigates the sometimes complacent style of play of younger stars.

There, Füllkrug appears like a pro who has fallen out of time in a good way.

In terms of habitus alone, Füllkrug hardly seemed to fit in with the smooth-ironed world of the German Football Association, and certainly not with the degenerate world of the International Football Association.

But since the first German World Cup Advent evening in al-Khor, on which he equalized the game against Spain with his determined play and a powerful goal and thus perhaps also turned the German World Cup around, Thomas Müller has now also been talking about a national player who is atypical in many respects : "Incredibly cool guy."

His extraordinary value for the four-time world champion is thus officially certified with the Müller dictum.

Even before the World Cup, some experts suspected the directness that Füllkrug can give to a notoriously fickle national team in front of goal.

His former coach in the German youth national teams, Horst "Hotte" Hrubesch, had already sung his praises for the old-school center forward in the FAZ just before the Bremen player was nominated.

"Football has to be fun too," said Hrubesch, referring to what the national team all too often lacks.

"I watched two games from Bremen this season because I was interested in how things went for him, and I just have to say: actually perfect, what he's doing at the moment, also in terms of type.

He can pull a team along, inspire a team.

He's someone who doesn't hide when things get tight.

He brings everything with him.”