Bayern Munich 3-0 Manchester United in the Women’s French Cup Final: Initial reactions and observations

Final! Bayern Munich 3 - 0 Manchester United

And that’s a wrap! Some quick-hit thoughts as the FC Bayern Frauen defend their title in the AMOS Women’s French Cup and turn their attention towards the upcoming Bundesliga season.

• Like FC Barcelona, Manchester United were a pretty big test. It’s not a true competitive environment in pre-season, but it’s a big club with big aspirations. And Bayern emerged as comprehensive victors.
• Lots of rotation on the Bayern side today, and not as much for their opponents — at least in the back-line, which seems was unchanged from their semi-final win over PSG. United apparently faded as the game wore on, and Bayern pounced by starting the second half on fire.
• Shout out to the lovely folks at All for United WFC whose YouTube stream helped me get a clue about what was going on.
• Shout out also to Justin Kraft who provided some in-game analysis in German on Twitter. I can’t wait to see the highlights, not only because of the huge Bayern win, but also to see how much men’s side head coach Julian Nagelsmann has influenced Alexander Straus in his tactics.
• Excellent pun work:

We’ll leave you with scenes from the field after the win. Let’s go!!!!

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75’ — More changes from Alexander Straus. Ivana Rudelić, Franzi Kett, and Julia Landenberger come on, as Glódís Perla Viggósdóttir, Sarah Zadrazil, and Maxi Rall make way.

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66’ — GOAL!!! It’s another one, and Bayern are well and truly running away with this one! It’s Saki Kumagai finishing off a chance from a corner!

For United, Ella Toone has come on as well — the forward who scored the opening goal over Germany in this summer’s EURO Final.

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60’ — More changes for Bayern, as Carolin Simon, Lina Magull, and Klara Bühl come off for Giulia Gwinn, Linda Dallmann, and Emelyne Laurent. That’s both goal-scorers off now for Bayern.

Additionally, striker Lea Schüller had come on for Jovana Damnjanović at the half.

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Sharing some half-time observations from a German journalist, Justin Kraft, in absence of our own ability today to watch anything:

Good observations about Hanna Glas (Swedish international) and her versatility in defense at CB and RB, as well as coach Alexander Straus and his employment of “half-space overloads” — sound familiar?

Catching up from the FCBFrauen twitter updates, the second goal was a header by Magull via a cross from Sarah Zadrazil.

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48’ — the second half is barely underway and Lina Magull has doubled Bayern’s lead.

From the Man U fan stream watchalong, it sounds like the Red Devils are having trouble playing out the back, and if scorebar is any indication, Bayern are dominating proceedings. (Their accounting of attacks is suspect, however)

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Halftime

Bayern Munich leads Manchester United 1-0 behind a 43rd minute goal from Klara Bühl:

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Tonight’s lineups

Several changes as Giulia Gwinn, Lea Schüller, Georgia Stanway, Maria Grohs, Linda Dallmann, Tainara all make way. Jovana Damnjanović starts up top and Lina Magull captains her side.

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Bayern Munich are wrapping up their participation in the 2022 AMOS Women’s French Cup, having earned a place in today’s Final through their 2-1 victory over FC Barcelona earlier this week. Meeting them at the Stade Ernest-Wallon in Toulouse, France will be Manchester United, who triumphed 1-0 over Paris Saint-German.

New defender signing Tainara, who featured in the back three against Barça, will miss out due to injury.

Though Bayern are the holders, this will be more about preparation for the season than securing a trophy. Still, the caliber of teams participating has been important in helping new coach Alexander Straus implement his vision.

“When we play against teams as strong as Barcelona, Paris, or Manchester United, we have to know how to deal with not having the ball all the time,” Straus told FCBayern.com.

“We have to develop step by step at every moment...everyone is working on this together, coaches and players alike. And if we work as well as we do every day, we will continue to win our games.”

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Match Info

Location: Stade Ernest-Wallon, Toulouse, France

Time: 3pm ET, 9pm local time

TV/Streaming: CBS (USA), MUTV (UK/Ireland), livesoccertv

Note: This does not appear to be available on Paramount+ despite what livesoccertv says; please let us know if it is otherwise.

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