FCB Women advance to semi-finals as group winners at W7F

FC Bayern’s women’s team made it two wins from two matches at the World Seven Football tournament in Portugal on Thursday afternoon. Following the 4-2 victory over Ajax on Wednesday evening, the German double winners enjoyed another comfortable win in their second group tie, beating Rosengård 4-0. They were in action again later on Thursday in the innovative new competition, in which teams of seven play two halves of 15 minutes. Top spot in the group was at stake against Manchester City, who also won their opening two games, and it was FCB who claimed their third win of the tournament and defeated City 3-1.

Before that, though, the Swedish side, who lost to the English club in their opener, had to be overcome. But they weren’t holding back: an audacious distance shot from Jo-Anne Cronquist had Bayern goakeeper Ena Mahmutovic at full stretch to prevent an early goal. But then the Munich girls took charge, Julia Zigiotti setting up Momoko Tanikawa, who side-stepped FCR keeper Eartha Cumings before slotting in the opening goal after four minutes. Like in the first match, FCB increasingly dictated the contest, frequently linking up in front of the opposition goal. All that was lacking was the final ball, or the required luck: Cumings thwarted Michelle Ulbrich’s attempt just before the break.

A minute into the second period, Bayern struck again: Tanikawa released Tuva Hansen, whose cut-back was turned in by Jovana Damnjanović. That opened the floodgates and just two minutes later, Pernille Harder headed in a splendid cross from Magdalena Eriksson. And FCB celebrated one more time, when Zigiotti made it 4-0 from Tanikawa’s assist with one minute left.

Around three and a half hours later, Bayern Women were back on the pitch for their final group game and claimed a 3-1 victory over Manchester City, who had beaten Ajax in an incredible penalty drama. WIth that, the Munich girls advanced as deserved group winners.

The two top teams in Group 1 went toe-to-toe from the start, with Linda Dallmann putting FCB in front from close range after just two minutes. The celebrations didn’t last long, however, as City’s Aoba Fujino burst through the Munich half just a minute later and found the bottom left corner with a fierce drive. Tanikawa had two big chances to restore the lead before half-time, but both missed the target.

Bayern made the better start in the second half. In the 18th minute, Maria Plattner laid the ball off to Zigiotti in the penalty area, who stroked it into the top left corner. This time there was no taking the lead from the Bavarians – on the contrary. In the 24th minute, it was again Plattner who advanced down the right and sealed the win with a shot into the far corner.

“The match against Manchester City was hard, it was 1-1 for a long time,” said Dallmann. “We want to play against these strong opponents, that’s what makes it appealing. The most important thing is that we’re having so much fun. The players who aren’t in the squad are also supporting us loudly from the edge of the pitch. This mix of good spirit and football is our strength. We want to continue in exactly that way, even though we’re obviously taking the games seriously. You played in this kind of tournament as a young girl, it’s great fun and we’re enjoying our time in Portugal.”

Bayern now meet Paris Saint-Germain, who finished second in Group 2, in the semi-finals at 16:00 CEST on Friday. Rivals Manchester City and Manchester United contest the other semi-final at 17:30 CEST. The final will be played at 21:00 CEST, with the third-place play-off at 19:30 CEST.

You can stream all the W7F matches for free: