
Charles Aránguiz would have loved to hold the trophy for the South American tournament aloft for a third time in succession after 2016 and 2017 – now the 30-year-old Chilean is just left with the third and fourth place play-off in this year’s Copa. In front of around 33,000 spectators in Porto Alegre, the winners of Group C suffered a surprise defeat against Peru who finished behind Brazil and Argentina in Group A but progressed to the quarter-finals as the best third-placed team. The goals for Peru were scored by Edison Flores (21'), Yoshimar Yotun (38') and the former Bayern Munich player Paolo Guerrero (90+ 1'). In the fourth minute of added time, Chile's Eduardo Vargas missed the chance to score a consolation goal for La Roja when he failed to convert a penalty – the VAR had identified a foul in the penalty area on Aránguiz who played for the full 90 minutes.
The third and fourth place play-off between Chile and Argentina is on Saturday (21.00 CET) in a repeat of the final of 2017 – Brazil and underdogs Peru face each other in the final on Sunday (22.00 CET).
While Aránguiz still has one game to play before his well-earned summer break, Leon Bailey can head off on holiday now. Winning his fourth cap, the 21-year-old was unable to prevent the Reggae Boyz losing 3-1 to the Gold Cup holders the USA in the semi-finals. The Werkself number seven, who produced a lively performance on the left wing at the Nissan Stadium in Nashville for over 90 minutes, did provide the cross for Shamar Nicholson to make it 2-1 on 69 minutes. That was too little for the Jamaicans, who were prone to making mistakes, against a confident USA side with their goals scored by Weston McKennie (9') and the former Dortmund player Christian Pulisic (52', 87'). In Sunday’s final, USA play Mexico including the former Bayer 04 pro Chicharito. There is no third and fourth place play-off in the Gold Cup.
The third Bayer 04 player still still away on international duty is Marc Lamti with the Tunisia U19 side at the Africa Cup. Tunisia went through to the last 16 on Tuesday night with a third draw in their third group game against Mauritania putting them second in Group E. As in the last two games, Lamti was on the bench for 90 minutes – but he can be hopeful of making appearance in the Round of 16 match against Ghana on Monday (8 June, 21.00 CET).


The Bayer 04 women’s team secured a win in the friendly during the international break. Without a total of eight international players, coach Roberto Pätzold’s team defeated Bundesliga 2 side Borussia Mönchengladbach 3–1 at the Kurtekotten Training Centre, thanks to goals from Lobke Loonen (1’, penalty), Caroline Kehrer (41') and Valentina Mädl (66').
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Bayer 04 will have to manage without striker Christian Kofane in the coming weeks. The 20-year-old sustained a muscle injury to his left thigh on international duty with the Cameroon national team during the recent international break. This will prevent him from playing in the upcoming Werkself matches.
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FSV Mainz 05 went into the international break on the back of an away win at Borussia Mönchengladbach. Currently sixth in the table, the Rheinhessen side – who have been impressive on the road – now aim to continue their good start to the Bundesliga campaign at home when they face the Werkself on Saturday, 10 October (kick-off: 15:30 CEST). In terms of squad selection, Urs Fischer once again has more options at his disposal. Up front, the Mainz coach is likely to continue relying on what is currently the league’s most successful strike partnership. The lowdown on our next opponents.
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Exciting experiences and exclusive insights into the Werkself and the BayArena awaited the young footballers from the BA04 Football Academy Guangzhou in China during their visit to the Rhineland this week. As well as taking part in a joint training session with the Bayer 04 Football Academy, the youngsters marvelled at the Bundesliga club’s stadium during a guided tour. The highlight of the visit was a private press conference with former Bayer 04 striker Stefan Kießling, during which he shared tips from his own career with the young players. On Saturday afternoon, 10 October, the group will round off their visit by supporting the Werkself in the away match in Mainz.
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Fans ask, Carolin Simon answers: As part of Bayer 04’s second Ask Me Anything (AMA) session on Reddit, the Leverkusen captain took questions from the community. The full-back, who returned to the club this summer after ten years away, set aside an hour and a half for the Q&A session with fans, offering a very personal insight into, amongst other things, her daily life as a footballer and her role as captain, as well as her passion for Pokémon.
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