“The first match is incredibly important. Will we get it right as we intend? If that happens it will give us a certain sense of security for the match. And if we pick up three points then we’ll have exactly what we want to progress in a tournament like this,” declared coach Horst Hrubesch.
Germany, with Lars Bender sharing a room with his twin brother Sven at the team hotel, have high hopes. “The first target is to win the group so we don’t have to move for the quarter-finals. And we want to be in the Olympic village for the semi-finals to share that experience. We’ve heard about that so often and find it absolutely fascinating. As a footballer you can usually only be there once in your life,” said Hrubesch, whose players follow up the opener against Mexico with games against South Korea (Sunday, 21.00 CET) and Fiji (Wednesday, 21.00 CET).
Renato Augusto and Son in Brazil too
Like Julian Brandt, Lars Bender is also really keen to face the challenge of the Olympic Games. “It’s great to be part of the Olympics but I don’t want to just look at photos in the future and say I was there. I would rather hold something in my hands. Every athlete wants to win to have something forever that you can enjoy remembering,” said Lars who was a Under-19 European Champion along with his brother in 2008. Renato Augusto (Brazil) plus Heung-Min Son and Seung-Woo Ryu (both South Korea) are former Bayer 04 players at the Olympic tournament.
Krahn plays in first win
While Bender, Brandt and the men’s team can hardly wait for their Olympic opener, Annike Krahn and the Germany women’s team have already played their first group match in Brazil. The team coached by Silvia Neid clocked up a 6-1 win against Zimbabwe in Sao Paulo. The Werkself central defender, who won a bronze medal at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, played the full 90 minutes. The other group opponents for Germany are Australia (Saturday 23.00 CET) and Canada (Tuesday, 21.00 CET).
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.
Show more
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.
Show more
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.
Show more
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.
Show more
