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Tired legs creates strange chances in sports. Last week's Algarve Cup took many Frauen-Bundesliga players away from their teams for over a week. While almost all were back in action today, the disruption had a notable effect on the league. Bayern Munich slogged through a 0-0 draw against MSV Duisburg and failed to make ground on the leader, VfL Wolfsburg who dropped a decisive match 2-0 to Turbine Potsdam.
The last week was hectic for Bayern, with many players away on international duty for Germany, Switzerland, and Iceland. To complicate things even more, captain Melanie Behringer missed the week with an injury and did not even travel for the match. In her absence, 24 year old Viktoria Schnaderbeck captained the team. In total, eight of the eleven starters from the game for Bayern were away on international duty.
Once the game started, Duisburg settled into a physical and defensive style of play. Bayern dominated possession early on and had a few good chances in the first 15 minutes, but were unable to convert on any of them. Bayern Munich dominated the early run of play and had several free kicks and corner kicks while Duisburg's best chance came in the 27th minute with a corner kick.
Bayern continued to dominate the game in the second half and almost broke the deadlock in the 56th minute with a header from Vivianne Miedema that was stopped. Duisburg continued to play a very defensive game that often prevented Bayern from getting a good look at the goal. In stoppage time Bayern broke through the defense and had a had a shot that went wide over the goal. With the final whistle, the game ended 0-0 and Bayern earned a point.
While a point on the road helps keep Bayern Munich undefeated in the league, it did not help them gain any ground on VfL Wolfsburg. Shortly after, Wolfsburg were shocked in a 2-0 upset by Turbine Potsdam. With the result, Wolfsburg lost their first match of the season and now the top four teams in the Bundesliga are separated by only four points with only five matches to go.
Bayern's best chance to make an impact on the league comes this Friday when the team takes on Turbine Potsdam. The match will be streamed by DFB TV.