After suffering a 3-0 loss in Iceland in the penultimate qualifier, Germany hosted Austria in the final match of qualification for next Summer’s Women’s European Championships. Although they already qualified last month, Germany could use this a warmup for the Olympics that start in nine days.
Up 3-0 in the 70th minute, Bayern Munich’s newcomer, Lena Oberdorf clattered into an Austrian opponent and went to ground, grabbing her leg. Videos going around social media — and the comments from non-medical professionals that come with them — seem to show a pop of her knee, which could point towards an ACL injury. No official word has come from the club or the national team at the time of this publication.
In better news, Bayern players were at the forefront of the attack for Germany — scoring three of the four goals. Klara Bühl opened the scoring in the 11th minute. Wolfsburg’s Jule Brand doubled the lead before halftime with a goal in the 39th minutes. Bayern’s Lea Schüller scored in the 53rd minute. Klara Bühl put a bookend on the match with a goal in the fourth minute of stoppage time to make it 4-0 and completed her brace.
Although probably with Oberdorf, Germany will hope to build off this strong win when they start the Olympics in just over a week. Germany will face Australia on Thursday, July 25, the USA the following Sunday, and Zambia on Wednesday — a grueling three games in seven days.