Welcome to the FC Bayern Campus Round Up, where the matches of Bayern Munich’s U-19 and U-23 squads are recapped, line ups are provided and highlights to each match are hyperlinked on top of their respective score lines. The U-17’s are currently taking their winter break, so there is no U-17 match to recap this weekend. Unfortunately, none of these matches can be viewed in full length without an FCBayernTV subscription. Without further ado, here is the round up:
Bayern lineup (with subs): Ballis – Brückner, Breitkreuz, Dettoni, Rüger- Aseko, Becker (68. Kusi-Asare), Della Rovere (90.+2 Dell’Erba) – Irankunda (46. Wagner), Unsöld (78. Scott), Ličina (46. Jensen)
Unavailable players: Moritz Mosandl, Javier Fernández, Younes Aitamer, Timo Kern
Goals: 1:0 Scheder (54.), 1:1 Kusi-Asare (77.)
First and foremost, it is a joy to see the list of unavailable players shrink. The likes of Benjamin Ballis, Angelo Brückner, Lennard Becker, Jonah Kusi-Asare, Guido Della-Rovere, Davide Dell-Erba, Adin Ličina and Jonathan Asp Jensen have all been struggling with injury issues lately and over the course of the season, but are all now at or nearing full match fitness.
The game itself was a real battle of attrition. Away to the team 2nd in the table and with a field covered in snow, Bayern II struggled to get any real rhythm going. This is a team that is built with technical quality ahead of physical strength in mind, so when fields are bogged down and passing is incredibly difficult, it can struggle. Nonetheless, SpVgg Bayreuth were the main cause for concern. The combination of their greater physical strength and their strategic attacking movement saw them overpower Bayern in the first half, generating many gilt-edged chances and somehow missing them all.
They did not extend the same courtesy in the second half, however, with the side taking the lead in the 54th minute. Bayern managed to find the equalizer, however, thanks Della-Rovere. The 17-year-old Italian played an absolute blinder of a game, constantly battling the elements to drive at the opposition. He would step past opponents like they were not there, thread the needle through the tightest of spaces to his teammates and provided Bayern’s best moments. One of those moments was a brilliant cross that was flashed across goal and just begged Kusi-Asare to stick a leg out and put the ball in the back of the net, which he duly did. An exciting finale to the match ensued in which both sides had chances to win, but both title candidates settled for a point apiece.
Though it was a valuable point against the team in 2nd, the other teams in the top six all won their games. Therefore, Bayern II remains 3 points behind Bayreuth with two games in hand, while they are six points behind 1. FC Schweinfurt in 1st with one game in hand. Bayern II plays two more games this season before the team’s winter break. Said winter break will only end at the end of February.
Bayern lineup (with subs): Stančić – Dalpiaz, Scholl, Puljić (62. Zöls), Ofli – Nasrawe (62. Eckl), Yildiz (46. Olychenko), Chávez – Binder (62. Schuhbauer), Codjo-Evora (62. Schäfer), Chemwor (78. Durakok)
Unavailable players: Uhuns, Mergner, Santos, Mijatović, Wilson
Goals: 1:0 Binder (17.), 2:0 Nasrawe (42.), 2:1 Kieffer (85.)
The combination of Bayern U-19s last game before the international break and the international break meant that the team’s last game together was a while ago. And it showed in a genuinely sloppy and awful opening 15 minutes, in which the team could not pass out of the back to save their lives, string 5 passes together or win any of their duels in midfield. Fortunately, a combination of luck and a lack of clinical finishing from the visitors kept the score at 0-0 and setting the stage for Bayern to take the improbable lead.
They did so via Tim Binder, who scored an utterly world class goal, chesting a long ball down beautifully and outwitting two defenders before squeezing the ball in from a seemingly impossible angle. This goal settled the team down and they started pinging the ball around better. Not that the conditions made it easy. It was frosty and the pitch had clearly suffered the consequences. Bayern really needs to improve their pitches.
Nevertheless, this increase in control saw Bayern double the lead and really should have seen them score more before the opponents reduced the arrears late on. Not that it mattered, as Bayern still walked away with a victory. The victory is meaningless to the league table, with Bayern comfortable winners, but it serves a nice warm up as Paris Saint Germain’s U-19s come to town on Tuesday. With seven points from four games, a victory would be very big for the young Bavarians. Bayern’s U-19s have two more UEFA Youth League and two more league games before their own winter break.
