by Olaf Goldbecker
Another matchday in Germany, which couldn’t fully be played as two teams are active in the Champions League. Four games were played on this national holiday:
1.FFC Frankfurt v FSV Gütersloh 1:1 (1:0)
One way football towards the goal of Tessa Rinkes was seen in Frankfurt and everybody knew there could only be one winner – sometimes things happen differently. Sandrine Bretigny scored her first Bundesliga goal already after a quarter hour and by then nobody thought that this might be the only successful strike for the powerhouse. Yet either Rinkes saved or post/crossbar helped the visitors who realized ten minutes before the end that something was possible today. They changed to three players in the backline and went full risk, which was rewarded. Maren Wallenhorst tied the game with one minute left on the clock after a corner kick.
FCR Duisburg v VfL Sindelfingen 4:0 (1:0)
Three days after Sindelfingen won their first points in the league, they returned back to normal. Yet the score was not as close as it seems, the last two goals happened within the final five minutes. Mandy Islacker was the player of the day with three goals. Lieke Martens added one to the final score.
FF USV Jena v SG Essen-Schönebeck 1:1 (1:1)
Early goals sealed this match already after 12 minutes. Kat Tarr opened the scoring for the visitors and Susanne Utes tied quickly. Jena needs to work on winning those games, otherwise it might get close for them this year, while Essen showed that they prefer playing teams who can attack more.
Bayern München v Bayer Leverkusen 3:2 (2:0)
American scoring day in Munich. Sarah Hagen scored twice, Niki Cross added one to give their team a 3-0 lead after an hour. Yet Leverkusen continued fighting and put themselves on the scoreboard. Caro Dej entered the field in minute 65 and used her time to score a pair of goals. Since the last one came in minute 90 there was not enough time left to achieve a draw
Situation: the standings are very uneven, see the number of games in brackets. Frankfurt leads the league with 10 points (5), followed by Gütersloh (4) and Essen (5) with 7 each. A quartet currently has 6 points on their account: Potsdam (3), Wolfsburg (2), Munich (3) and Duisburg (4). Bad Neuenahr sits on the eighth spot as only team with 5 points (4), trailed by Freiburg at 4 (3) and Sindelfingen with 3 (5). Currently on relegation spots with two points each are Leverkusen (4) and Jena (5).