How good a football team is at the moment is not only shown by how dominant they appear, how fluently they pass each other or how often they score. It’s also the way they score that can tell a lot about confidence. And the cup semi-final between FC Bayern and VfL Wolfsburg on Easter Sunday provided illustrative material in various scenes.
19 minutes: Jill Roord, initially completely unguarded by the Munich team, gets the ball and only turns before she shoots precisely and powerfully from 20 meters to make it 1-0. 61 minutes: Roord eludes their captors again, this time in the penalty area, the ball is accepted again with great calm, left, right, goal for the 2-1 lead. 80 minutes: Tabea Waßmuth is played into the run, she flicks it without hesitation to make it 3-1 over the right inner post into the goal – with her weaker left foot.
This game between the two best German teams in women’s football was charged with the constant rivalry and what was at stake for both. And it became proof of the excellent shape the women from Wolfsburg are in – just at the right time when title decisions are imminent. “We are in a phase where we are completely in the flow and exude maximum conviction,” said VfL trainer Tommy Stroot: “I think that hurts our opponents.”
It wasn’t that FC Bayern didn’t vehemently fought against the defeat in front of 2,330 spectators in the campus stadium. Especially after the 1-1 equalizer (penalty by Jovana Damnjanovic, 52nd), the Munich team turned up the heat. But they faced an opponent who seemed to be beyond any doubt – and who is now allowed to deal more and more offensively with a big term: the triple. For the second time after 2013, the Wolfsburg women could succeed in winning the championship, cup and Champions League.
More than 96,000 spectators could come to the Camp Nou on Friday against FC Barcelona
In the previous encounter between the two clubs, they had overrun Bayern 6-0 and thus almost certainly decided the championship. VfL leads the Bundesliga with three remaining games by four points. Even in Munich, they don’t believe in such a great football miracle that Wolfsburg isn’t enough for the title.
So this season is a disappointment for Bayern. The ultimate goal was to defend the title in the league, and there was always hope for more. Now the women of Munich are left empty-handed when it comes to awarding trophies. “We’ve gambled away in the last few weeks,” said Linda Dallmann. Not only head coach Jens Scheuer – who was represented by assistant coach Jérôme Reisacher on Sunday because he was suffering from Corona – should ask himself: How successful could the team have been if against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League quarter-finals at the end of March and in the clap against Wolfsburg at the beginning of April not so many players with Covid-19 had dropped out?
First season at VfL Wolfsburg – one, two or even three titles? Coach Tommy Stroot and his team have put themselves in a promising position.
(Photo: Silas Stein/dpa)
Instead of being able to fight for finals and success themselves, Bayern have to watch how Wolfsburg nationally reinforces the power structure that the Munich team wants to break. Wolfsburg is also the favorite in the cup final, with seven titles in a row, the club is a force here. On May 28, Bayer Leverkusen and Turbine Potsdam will face off against the winner of Monday’s game (6.30 p.m., Sky).
And this Friday (6.45 p.m., Dazn) there is already that duel in which the backdrop alone should inspire top performance. For the semi-finals of the Champions League, the Wolfsburg women travel to FC Barcelona. The tickets sold out quickly, so more than 96,000 spectators could come to the Camp Nou. “If you win like that against Bayern, that’s the next block for the tailwind,” said goalkeeper Almuth Schult in view of the task ahead. “We bring courage to the pitch and that’s why we don’t have so much room for doubts. We’ve had a great season so far, who would have thought we could do that?”
“It’s wonderful to see what has come of it,” says goalkeeper Schult about the upheaval at VfL
VfL Wolfsburg started with a double upheaval. The 33-year-old Stroot, who previously worked for FC Twente in the Netherlands, took over the footballers with an almost completely new coaching team. There were also many changes – including those from Roord and Waßmuth, who leads the list of goalscorers in the Champions League with nine goals ahead of Barcelona’s world footballer Alexia Putellas (8). “It was a completely new start and a process that I haven’t been through at VfL Wolfsburg yet,” said Schult, who has been with the club since 2013. “It’s wonderful to see what has come out of it.”
Initially, however, the group phase in the premier class was bumpy, in the decisive game in mid-December a 4-0 win over Chelsea only just made it from third place to the quarter-finals. In retrospect, this seems like an initial spark for the Wolfsburg women’s run – which they absolutely want to continue. But to do this, they will have to improve on their previous performance and surpass themselves. Treble winner Barcelona has reached the cup semi-finals and won the Super Cup, as well as the Primera División early – with a current 22 point lead with a balance of 146:8 goals. So you’re up against a team that’s also in the flow and has at least as much confidence.