At the end of their Argentina trip, the FC Bayern World Squad again proved that the hard work of the last 12 days has been worth it. With success: in their final friendly before the departure for Munich, the international FCB XI demonstrated full commitment on the pitch and won 1-0 against the River Plate U20 side thanks to a late goal from Viktor Orakpo.
Watch the match in full:
Makaay: Great credit to the team
"Great credit to the team for what they've shown after just 12 days," enthused head coach Roy Makaay after the game. "They played as a team against good opponents. Even if we hadn't won I would've been very pleased."
Four days after their first win together against Argentinos Juniors U19s, the young team demonstrated further signs of progress. Siam Yapp, who got on the scoresheet on Saturday, caused chaos with several dangerous runs, one of which could only be stopped by a foul just outside the area in a first half that was generally low on chances.
Lining up together: FC Bayern World Squad and River Plate U20s.
After the break, the introduction of striker Orakpo, who also scored at the weekend against Argentinos Juniors U19s, gave the team fresh impetus. The hosts couldn't get to grips with the Nigerian forward, who missed chances to break the deadlock in the 49th and 77th minute. Yapp also went close with a header in the 74th minute.
Martín Demichelis, former Bayern player and coach and now River Plate head coach, greets his former teammate Roy Makaay.
Goalkeeper Viktor Baier ensured that the World Squad didn't pay the price for these missed chances, keeping his team in the game with a number of fine saves on his full debut. But despite their dominance, it looked for Makaay's charges that the game would end in a goalless draw until the second minute of stoppage time, when Orakpo took advantage of a goalkeeping error and slotted the ball into the empty net to clinch a deserved victory.
Back to work in Munich on 1 July
Straight after the game the squad made their way to Munich, where they'll resume training on 1 July after two well-earned days off. They play their first friendly on German soil against KSV Hessen Kassel just a few days later, on 5 July.
The report from the World Squad's last friendly against Argentinos Juniors:
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