Bayern Munich Frauen coach Alexander Straus assesses the preparation and the fixtures ahead

Bayern Munich Frauen have prepared well for the series of important fixtures ahead of them — in the DFB-Pokal, the Bundesliga and then the Women’s Champions League.

On September 12th, Bayern face FC Ingolstadt in the second round of the Pokal. Strong opponents await after the Pokal, as Bayern face Frankfurt at the Deutsche-Bank Park and then travel to San Sebastián to face Real Sociedad in the UWCL. Head coach Alexander Straus looks back on the preparations and assesses the start of the season, per fcbayern.com.

The European Championship final was a somber affair for Germany and its large Bayern Munich contingency. They lost 2-1 to Bayern’s own Georgia Stanway and her England team. The Euros meant a paper-thin squad during the preparatory period in Italy, which made things very difficult for Straus. “Because of the European Championship, where many of our players were in action for a long time, the preparation was a little different than usual and sometimes hectic,” the coach explained.

He then spoke on the training, and the friendlies. “But we made good use of the time we had together. We were at the training camp in Italy where we played well against US Sassuolo.” He believes that the team showed their fullest potential during the build-up of the first goal against Sassuolo and said that is how the team wishes to play.

Bayern also won the AMOS Women’s French Cup, beating the likes of FC Barcelona and Manchester United, and the coach praised the team for their performances. His personal highlight in this period was getting the whole team together. “If we relate the question to the sporting side, we were very good in our 3-0 win against Manchester United. The entire tournament in France was very good for the team,” he said.

Bayern then lost to Atlético Madrid, and it came to light that there was a lot of work to do. “After the friendly against Atlético here at the FC Bayern Campus, we still had to work on a few things. Now we are ready to start the new season,” he declared.

The “Mia San Mia” makes Bayern different and special compared to any other football team on the planet. To Straus, the motto means a lot, and he expressed his liking toward it. “It was one of the first things I dealt with when I came into contact with FC Bayern,” he recounted. “For me it’s about community, cohesion and working together as a team towards the same goal. To develop a team with which we can call up the performance that we want to bring to the pitch. That means “Mia San Mia” to me,” the coach declared emphatically. What an answer!

Though the fixture list is congested (the men’s team can relate!), Straus holds the opinion that even during the limited gaps for training, the team must do their best and develop their system and style of play — something that they could not do during the training phase. According to Straus, Frankfurt are one of Bayern’s strongest competitors, and playing against them in the first game of the season will be the first assessment for where Bayern stand. “It will be a difficult game, but so will it be Frankfurt. We are looking forward to it,” the coach enthused.