Turbine running on full power

By Mark Bennett & Eivind Aarre

Contenders 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam are fully fit and bursting with confidence as they prepare to welcome SK Trondheims-Ørn for the first leg of their UEFA Women's Cup semi-final on Saturday.

Continental aim
The German champions are hoping to follow in the footsteps of 1. FFC Frankfurt, who won the first final in 2002 and reached the same stage again, losing to Umeå IK, last season. Having taken the domestic title off Frankfurt, Turbine are now looking to claim the continental crown.

'Ambitious side'
Coach Bernd Schröder, who has a fully-fit squad including German internationals Petra Wimbersky and Anja Mittag, saw his team defeat VfL Wolfsburg on Tuesday, Brazilian international Christiane hitting a hat-trick with Ariane Hingst getting the other goal. He said: "We want to do ourselves and German football proud. We won the championship and the German Cup last season and the Women's Cup is the only trophy missing. We are an ambitious side and want to win the Women's Cup this season."

Fans' support
However, he knows the Norwegian team will not make things easy. "We want to win the first leg and avoid conceding a goal because you never know what will happen in the return leg," Schröder said. "Our opponents also want to reach the final. Our fans will play an important role on Saturday, too. Just think back to the quarter-final against [FC Energy] Voronezh. We got off to a slow start but they really got behind us and we lifted our game. It swung the match in our favour."

Trondheim concerns
In contrast to their hosts, Trondheim are without Norway forward Ragnhild Gulbrandsen due to knee surgery and Elisabeth Fagereng, Marianne Paulsen, Heidi Pedersen and Monica Enlid are all doubtful. Since the quarter-final victory against FC Bobruichanka in October, they have also lost Brit Sandaune to retirement.

Warm-up games
It is still the Norwegian close season, so coach Trond Nordsteien has followed a series of friendlies with a training trip to La Manga. In their most recent warm-up game, against Røa IL on Monday, they were held 0-0.

Coach 'confident'
Still, Nordsteien declared: "I am confident that the team will be well prepared for the game against Potsdam." His side then welcome Postdam for the return a week on Saturday, by which time either Arsenal LFC or Djurgården/Älvsjö will have already claimed a place in the two-legged final.