New Delhi: A tale of two halves ultimately leads to Bayern Munich W beating VfL Wolfsburg W 1:0 to capture the DFB-Super Cup Frauen in a tight and cagey contest in Dresden. Bayern Munich and Germany forward Klara Bühl was quick to exploit an early mistake from Wolfsburg, netting the first and only goal in the 9th minute with a searing low-driver.
A 1-0 result could deceive anyone who didn’t watch the match, as Bayern dominated from the outset, effortlessly navigating past Wolfsburg’s high press and attacking with directness and speed. Within the first 9 minutes, Linda Dallmann was one-on-one with Wolfsburg keeper Merle Frohms, her weak shot safely collected by the German international. The She-Wolves’ luck would run out in the 9th minute, when defender Marina Hegering would slip near her own box and leave the ball for Bühl to pounce upon the glaring mistake, with Frohms left helpless and staring at the ripping net.
dpatop – 25 August 2024, Saxony, Dresden: Soccer, Women, DFB Super Cup, FC Bayern Munich – VfL Wolfsburg, Rudolf Harbig Stadium. Munich’s Klara Bühl (l) celebrates with Georgia Stanway after her goal to make it 1:0. Photo: Robert Michael/dpa (Photo by Robert Michael/picture alliance via Getty Images)
The hailstorm of Bayern’s attack would only get more pronounced from that point. In the 17th minute, Stanway would be rewarded for her lung-busting overlapping run, receiving the ball in the box and letting loose a curler only inches away from the top-right corner. The very next minute, the Bavarians would have their goal chalked off for offside, with the mercurial Pernille Harder initially slotting the ball calmly from close-range after being set-up by Bühl.
Wolfsburg would fight tooth-and-nail to avoid a drubbing, epitomized in the 28th minute. Bayern earned a corner and the ball was met collectively by Frohms and Bayern forward Jovana Damnjanović. Only Hegering’s goal-line clearance saved the ball rolling into the net. Bayern maintained their dominant control over the tie, with Wolfsburg only managing a few counter-attacking opportunities amounting to nothing. They would, however, end the match on a relative high, when new signing Janina Minge’s long-range effort produced a fine save from Bayern keeper Maria Grohs.
Some 10 minutes into the second half, Wolfsburg slowly pulled themselves back into the game by winning some set pieces in Bayern’s half. Sure, those sequences hardly put Grohs under considerable pressure, but the visible fight from the She-Wolves was enough to lift the stadium into a wonderful cacophony.
Harder served as a situational villain in this regard, as around the one-hour-mark, Bayern again sought to attack directly, finding an outlet in the Danish forward’s capability in popping up in pockets of space and causing the Wolfsburg defence major headaches.
Like a scene out of a classic film, this was the cue for the heroine to appear; enter iconic German striker Alexandra Popp, subbed on for new Wolfsburg signing Lineth Beerenstyn, amidst a sea of adoration from the crowd. Around the 70th minute, Wolfsburg were almost rewarded for their tenacity. First, from a corner, Minge rushed to win the vital flick-on, with the ball floating perfectly towards the far post, only for Lena Lattwein to lash her close-range shot straight at Frohms.
Frohms would again be called on to play savior just a few minutes later, when Popp would drop deep and find captain Svenja Huth in space with a pass. Impatient to equalize and turn the game on its head, the skipper would test Frohms from some distance, with the Bayern keeper responding with an acrobatic save to tip the ball away from goal.
Apart from a near-catastrophic error made by Wolfsburg defender Lynn Wilms near her own box, the waves of substitutions on both sides took the momentum from the match. Like a true cup match, the tie devolved into a stop-and-start affair, with the Dresden crowd making their opinions very clear on Bayern’s attempt at time-wasting. Wolfsburg would spend the final minutes trying to create something for Popp with numerous crosses, but would fail to equalize before the inevitable final whistle.
VfL Wolfsburg Women denied dramatic equalizer in cagey affair against the reigning Frauen-Bundesliga winners. Football Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
