The relief was clear for all to see at the end. After the final whistle in Brasília the players in the team coached by Horst Hrubesch embraced each other and celebrated making it through to the last four. In spite of the 4-0 result it was a tough game for the Germany Olympic team against Portugal. The floodgates opened just before half-time when Serge Gnabry scored. Lars Bender won the ball with his usual determined approach, Julian Brandt picked out the Arsenal player and Gnabry netted with aplomb.
Seven assists from Brandt
And Brandt continued to shine on the right wing: Again and again he caused problems in the opposition penalty area with some accurate assists and two efforts on goal. Matthias Ginter made it 2-0 from a Brandt corner on 58 minutes. And it got even better: Davie Selke added a third on 75 minutes and Brandt again provided another assist for substitute Philipp Max to round off the scoring on 84 minutes. That was the seventh assist from the blond striker at this Olympic tournament.
Lars Bender was not on the pitch at that point. Up to 71 minutes he gave his all as the driving force in an attacking line of four in the new 4-1-4-1 system before Hrubesch granted him an early finish to his shift. Germany are next in action in the semi-final on Wednesday (18.00 CET). Nigeria or Denmark will be the opponents in Sao Paulo. Another victory would see Germany win silver at least.
Under Carles Martínez, the Werkself have so far proved unbeatable at the BayArena. The Spaniard has led his team to victory in all three of their most recent home matches – and, it's worth noting, without conceding a single goal. On Sunday, 18 October (kick-off: 15:30 CEST / live on DAZN and Werkself Radio), current league leaders SC Freiburg will make the trip to Leverkusen, but will be without their top scorer. What's more, the Werkself have won all three of their previous home matches against the Black Forest club. With a goal, Patrik Schick could not only secure a fourth consecutive victory but also set a memorable record. Meanwhile, on what will be the ‘Health Day' at the BayArena, much of the focus will be on physical wellbeing. Today's matchday news.
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Bayer 04 Women missed out on victory in the Google Pixel Bundesliga as they were held to a draw at home to Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday. Estrella Merino Gonzalez had put the Werkself ahead directly from a corner at the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion, before Laura Freigang levelled for the visitors as it finished all square between fourth and third on Matchday 7.
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Freiburg have made an impressive start to the season, unbeaten in nine games across all competitions, with eight of them wins. Now the Bundesliga leaders come to the BayArena on Sunday to take on the Werkself, but Julian Schuster’s team will be missing their top scorer. Here’s the lowdown on our next opponent.
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Bayer 04 will have to manage without attacking midfielder Martin Terrier for the time being. The Frenchman sustained a muscle injury to his left hamstring yesterday, Thursday 15 October, during the Europa League game against Polish champions Lech Poznan (4–0). Terrier is not expected to be available until late December.
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