Croatia, with Tin Jedvaj crossing his fingers for his team-mates in Leverkusen, only needed a goalless draw in the second leg in Piraeus following their 4-1 victory in Thursday’s meeting in Zagreb. In contrast to the first match, Michael Skibbe started Panos Retsos and he played the full 90 minutes at left back. Greece worked hard but were ineffective up front. And when substitute Demitris Pelkas put the ball into the back of the net with ten minutes to play the goal was ruled out by the referee for an offside in the build-up.
There were also no goals in the encounter between Switzerland and Northern Ireland in the cauldron of St. Jakob Park in Basel. That did not affect the huge joy of Admir Mehmedi, brought off the bench on the hour mark, as Switzerland only needed to keep a clean sheet to qualify for the World Cup following the 1-0 win in the first leg in Northern Ireland. However, the hosts were kept on their toes to the final minute as they coped with a courageous fight from the Northern Irish and a difficult surface to play on. Ricardo Rodriguez was again the man of the match, after scoring the only goal of the game in the first leg, when he saved a shot off the line with goalkeeper Yann Sommer already beaten.
Admir Mehmedi, Tin Jedvaj, Lucas Alario as a possible for the Argentina squad plus the Germany players at the Werkself will have their eyes on Moscow on 1 December: The draw for the groups at the 2018 World Cup will be held at the Kremlin.
Bayer 04 Women end their record-breaking season away at Wolfsburg on Sunday (kick-off: 2pm CEST). Although the Werkself know they will finish the campaign in fourth for their best-ever finish, head coach Roberto Pätzold has called on his team to produce one final big result.
Show moreBayer 04 Women will be without Caroline Kehrer and Charlotte Voll for the remainder of the season. Striker Kehrer suffered a torn meniscus in his right knee during training, while goalkeeper Voll tore the syndesmosis in her right foot.
Show moreBayer 04 are again strongly represented in this year's Bundesliga Team of the Season from the games manufacturer EA Sports. Five Werkself players have been voted into the top XI for the 2024/25 season, a duo from the Bayer 04 Women's team are in the female Bundesliga TOTS. Bayer 04 were well represented last season with six male players in the top eleven, the most players from one club.
Show moreA few weeks ago Borussia Dortmund were marooned in mid-table mediocrity in the Bundesliga. Then the Black and Yellows started a run that overcame all comers. And suddenly a Champions League spot was again within reach. BVB will be looking to take the next step towards the big target at the BayArena on Sunday, 11 May (kick-off: 15:30 CEST). Coach Niko Kovac has almost his full squad available. The lowdown on our next opponents.
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