No goals at Wembley as this time, in contrast to the legendary 1966 World Cup final, a rocket shot from Leroy Sané hit the underside of the bar but was rightly judged not to have crossed the line – in spite of the draw, the game between the two big European football nations proved to be entertaining encounter. Germany kept up their impressive record at England's home of football with a goalless draw that extends an unbeaten record since 1975. Bernd Leno did not play but Julian Brandt came on in the 86th minute to earn his 13th international cap. Joachim Löw's team are in action again in Cologne on Tuesday (20.45 CET) in the final match of the year against France.
Switzerland and Admir Mehmedi are on the verge of qualification for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. In the first leg of the play-off against Northern Ireland, the Swiss earned a deserved 1-0 win and they are in the driving seat ahead of Sundays decisive return match at the St Jakob Park stadium in Basel (18.00 CET). The former Wolfsburg player Ricardo Rodriguez, now playing for AC Milan, converted a penalty on 58 minutes for the only goal of the game. Mehmedi came on with three minutes to play for his 57th full international appearance.
Panos Retsos was also on the bench at the start of his play-off match. When the Bayer 04 pro was brought on by Michael Skibbe at the start of the second half, Greece were already 3-1 down against Croatia in Zagreb. The match ended in a 4-1 defeat for the Greeks who were unable to cope with the lively approach of the hosts and they made several errors in defence. Tin Jedvaj, currently recovering in Leverkusen, watched the match from afar and was able to enjoy the Croatian victory. The chances of Greece turning the tie round are slim ahead of Sunday's return match in Piraeus (20.45 CET).
Joel Pohjanpalo and Finland beat Estonia 3-0 in a friendly. 'Danger' played the full 90 minutes and provided the assist for the opening goal. On Sunday (14.30 CET), the two Bayer 04 youth players Sam Schreck and Atakan Akkaynak are set to play for the Germany U19s in Cyprus. Julian Baumgartlinger is likely to play for Austria in a friendly against Uruguay on Tuesday.
Construction work continues on the ‘Haus der Talente’ on Kurtekottenweg in Leverkusen, where 36 young elite athletes will find a new home from next summer. The building team from Temmink Bau, led by Thomas Wellers, are hard at work. Over the past few days, excavators, wheeled loaders and rollers have removed 2,500 cubic metres of soil to excavate the basement.
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Special events for a special match: Bayer 04 are offering fans a varied programme of events at tonight’s home game in the Google Pixel Women’s Bundesliga against German champions Bayern Munich (kick-off: 18:00 CEST). Alongside a number of interactive activities, events to mark the DFB Sustainability matchday are also planned around the Ulrich Haberland Stadium. Read on in the matchday news ahead of the clash with FC Bayern.
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Following two close encounters against VfL Wolfsburg and away to TSG Hoffenheim, the Bayer 04 Women face another top side on Monday night. The Werkself host German double winners Bayern Munich at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium at 18:00 CEST to round off matchday 4 in the Google Pixel Women’s Bundesliga. Head coach Roberto Pätzold is counting on another spirited performance from his team.
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30 shots on goal, 14 corners, 63 per cent possession: Bayer 04 clearly had the upper hand in their clash with league leaders FC Augsburg, but squandered the chance of a second win in three games due to a few minutes after the restart, “when we stopped playing football”, as managing director sport Simon Rolfes said after the game. The Werkself review of the 2–2 draw at FC Augsburg.
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