
Roger Schmidt led a two-hour training session on Tuesday that included many youngsters. In the absence of the international players they were able to join first team stars Lars Bender, Stefan Kießling and Chicharito.
Following an energetic session, Stefan Kießling took a tour around Leverkusen on the new Bayer 04 Schwadbus. Bayer 04 TV will feature an interview with the striker tomorrow but the first pictures are already available on Instagram. Just look for bayer04fussball on the Instagram app.
Mehmedi scores for Switzerland
Congratulations to Admir Mehmedi. The Werkself striker was the centre of attention in the 2-1 victory for Switzerland in the World Cup qualifier against Andorra. First, he was fouled for the penalty before going on to head his country into a 2-0 lead. That was the third win in three qualifiers for the Swiss.
Robbie Kruse is currently further afield. He was in the Socceroos side for the World Cup qualifier against rivals. Kruse came on at the start of the second half in a 1-1 draw that was a fair reflection of the match.
Germany clock up another win
Bayer 04 players were also on international duty on Tuesday night: Already qualified for next year’s European Championships in Poland, Jonathan Tah and the Germany U21s celebrated ten wins on the bounce with a 4-1 victory against Austria. That was followed in the evening by success for the senior team with Germany securing a 2-0 win against Northern Ireland. Julian Brandt, Bernd Leno and Kevin Volland started on the bench as Julian Draxler and Sami Khedira scored the goals in the opening 17 minutes. Volland replaced Jonas Hector with nine minutes to play.
In the early hours of Wednesday morning there will be World Cup qualifiers in South America. Charles Aránguiz and Wendell are in line to play for their countries. Aránguiz and Chile take on Peru with Brazil, including newly selected Wendell, away to Venezuela.


The meeting between fifth and sixth on Saturday afternoon (17 January, 15:30 CET) is a hard one to predict. While the Werkself can take confidence from their historic record at TSG Hoffenheim, the hosts are currently enjoying their second-best Bundesliga campaign and have lost just one of their last 10 games. Another good omen for Bayer 04: Daniel Schlager also refereed Leverkusen's last victory in Sinsheim (4-1). The Matchday News.
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At the end of the winter training camp in Portugal, the Bayer 04 Women convincingly mastered their friendly ahead of the start of the second half of the season. In the match against Swiss league leaders Servette FCCF, coach Roberto Pätzold's team won 3-0 at the Monte Gordo Sports Complex. Carlotta Wamser (4’), Vanessa Fudalla (18’) and Loreen Bender (53’) scored for Bayer 04, who have been preparing for the Rückrunde in the Algarve since last Saturday.
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The German Football League (DFL) has rescheduled the postponed fixture at Hamburger SV on Bundesliga matchday 17. The match, due to be played on Tuesday, has now been rescheduled for Wednesday, 4 March (kick-off: 20:30 CET).
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The Rückrunde is about to begin: The Werkself travel to TSG Hoffenheim on Saturday, 17 January (kick-off: 15:30 CET) on Bundesliga matchday 18. At the pre-match press conference on Friday lunchtime, head coach Kasper Hjulmand emphasised the double anticipation for the clash following Tuesday's postponement of the fixture at Hamburger SV. And he also talked about the tactical approach against an opponent on course for Champions League qualification.
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TSG Hoffenheim have had a tremendous season so far and are in absolute top form going into the new year. After another outstanding display against Borussia Mönchengladbach on Wednesday, TSG went above Bayer 04 in the table. On Saturday, 17 January (kick-off: 15:30 CET), coach Christian Ilzer's team will be looking to continue their run in the league against the Werkself. The lowdown on our next opponents.
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