On the 15th match day of the women’s Bundesliga, Cologne, Bremen and Co. get new chances to score points for staying up in the league. Which club comes out of the table basement?
The question of who can place ninth or even higher is currently particularly exciting in the Bundesliga. While twelfth place will probably remain with Turbine Potsdam, the second relegation zone is far from being taken. Bremen, Cologne, Duisburg and Meppen have to collect points in order to get as far away from them as possible.
VfL Wolfsburg – Turbine Potsdam (Friday, 7.15 p.m.)
The women from Potsdam, who have been shaken by upheavals and defeats, are faced with the next almost impossible task: They meet the leaders of the table.
At VfL Wolfsburg on Friday evening they will face what is probably the best offensive duo in the Bundesliga, maybe even in the world: Alex Popp and Ewa Pajor. With her last double, Popp overtook her teammate and now leads the list of top scorers of the season.
Both players regularly attract attention with their strong physical presence. Even their own club colleagues, who are also convincing on the offensive – Jule Brand and Tabea Wassmuth – can hardly keep up. Popp defends the balls, Pajor plays the opponents with their permanent joy of movement. On Friday there is the next opportunity for both of them to show that. And against Turbine Potsdam one or the other goal could fall again.
1. FC Cologne – FC Bayern Munich (Saturday, 1 p.m.)
Last week Laura Benkarth was back in the FC Bayern box after more than 460 days of injury. But someone else has fought for the regular place in recent months: 21-year-old Mala Grohs. Even haunted by bad luck with injuries, she fought her way up impressively and proved her nerves of steel in the Bundesliga and Champions League. The mechanical engineering student soon lost sight of the fact that not so long ago she was still playing in the second Bundesliga.
This season, the Munich women can fully rely on them – and the fight for the regular place has long since begun. Cecilía Rán Rúnarsdóttir and now Laura Benkarth will not leave her number 1 without a fight. And finally, important games are coming up in the coming weeks. Arsenal are waiting in the Champions League and VfL Wolfsburg in the cup. The game on Saturday against 1. FC Köln should be one of the smaller challenges.
Eintracht Frankfurt – SGS Essen (Sunday, 1 p.m.)
SGS Essen is experiencing constant ups and downs this season. Most recently, there was cheering again at home, also because of a strong Ramona Maier. With her brace, she secured three points for SGS in the fight against relegation. As top scorer in the second Bundesliga, Maier had moved from FC Ingolstadt to Essen. After initial teething problems, she has now established herself there as an important key player.
“I first had to get used to the higher pace and physicality in the Bundesliga. Overall, you have much less time to make decisions,” says Maier. Together with Vivien Endemann, she forms an important offensive duo in Markus Högner’s squad. Both have five goals under their belt – but against Eintracht Frankfurt on Sunday it could be difficult to build on this balance.
MSV Duisburg – SV Werder Bremen (Sunday, 1 p.m.)
At least until the end of the season, Bremen can still count on Anneke Borbe’s brilliant saves. Even if the catch-up game on Tuesday against Frankfurt was lost, the goalkeeper kept as much as possible. Whether Lara Prasnikar or Nicole Anyomi, Frankfurt failed again and again because of the strong Werder goalkeeper. The 22-year-old has been going her own way at SV for around eight years and has established herself as an important part of the team.
The talent did not remain undiscovered for long. At the end of February it was announced that Borbe would switch to VfL Wolfsburg next season. Until then, she still wants to make it clear with Werder that she will stay up in the league. There is an important duel against MSV Duisburg on the way there on Sunday afternoon, in which Borbe will once again have to show top performance.
SV Meppen – Bayer 04 Leverkusen (Sunday, 4 p.m.)
The weeks of truth are coming up for SV Meppen. Can the promoted team stay up? So far it looks like it. Meppen is in eighth place with 13 points. But that’s not a comfortable lead over the relegation zone. Meppen is defensively good and – apart from the 0:4 against Hoffenheim – hardly concedes a goal. But without your own goals it will be difficult with the points for relegation.
Coach Carin Bakhuis knows that too and firmly believes that the necessary points will come. Maybe on Sunday against Leverkusen. This is where Bakhuis meets her ex-colleague: last season she stood on the sidelines with Leverkusen’s head coach Robert de Pauw at Twente Enschede.
SC Freiburg – TSG Hoffenheim (Sunday, 4 p.m.)
With four wins from four games, including three points against VfL Wolfsburg, interim coach Nadine Rolser is now handing over to the new head coach Stephan Lerch. And he has big plans for TSG Hoffenheim: he wants to play in the Champions League. Hoffenheim are currently three points separating them from the necessary third place in the table. “At some point, that’s my goal, we want to permanently close the gap to the top teams Wolfsburg and Bayern,” Lerch also announced.
On Monday, Lerch, who has also coached VfL Wolfsburg, led the training together with Rolser for the first time and is happy that he was handed over a “functioning team”. Against the pursuers from SC Freiburg, he can now build on the successful series of TSG. Freiburg is six points behind TSG and last won against Hoffenheim four years ago.