Four observations + Match awards from Bayern Munich’s 1-0 victory against Kawasaki Frontale

Bayern Munich completed their second Audi FCB Summer tour game against local side Kawasaki Frontale and emerged 1-0 winners thanks to Josip Stanisic’s goal in the 67th minute. Bayern leave Japan with one win and one loss before hopping over to Singapore to play Liverpool. What were the takeaways from today’s match?

Match Observations

Kawasaki played with a lot of energy; Bayern not so much

It was surprising to see that Kawasaki played more energetically compared to Manchester City. In the last game, we saw Pep Guardiola’s trademark possession-based football but Kawasaki today played like a team intent on winning against a team like Bayern.

Weirdly enough, the game didn’t look exciting at all despite Kawasaki running around the place. It’s probably due to Bayern’s playing style (looking at you Thomas Tuchel) or Kawasaki running out of steam and fielding their B-Team.

Mathys Tel is a man on a mission

This kid is something else, genuinely. The 18-year-old was active in attack and had a bunch of shots early on that simply wouldn’t go in the net. He was taken off for Arijon Ibrahimovic just before the hour mark. Who knows, he might be auditioning for Tottenham Hotspur (who weirdly postponed a meeting with Bayern on grounds of jetlag).

(De)pressing

It looks like Bayern’s mad pressing from the days of former coaches Hansi Flick (now managing the Germany national team) and Julian Nagelsmann has all but disappeared ever since Thomas Tuchel came. Apart from Tel, some of the players did not show intent to get the win. Some at least tried, but the rest were disappointing.

The players’ names in Japanese on these kits look cool

I saw Kim Min-jae’s name in Japanese on the away kit before kickoff and that combined with this kit’s color scheme goes well together. Would 100% get this first before the home kit.

Match Awards

Jersey Swap: Kawasaki Frontale

Der Kaiser: Bouna Sarr

Der Fußballgott: Konrad Laimer

Laimer got the award because he was the most active midfielder in the team. Passing, tackling, the press machine was everywhere but was not able to finish the game, being taken off for Ryan Gravenberch who would go on and assist the winning goal

Der Bomber: Mathys Tel

This was mentioned in the match observations but it has to be said again: Tel was a monster tonight and was unfortunate not to get anything from his rigorous shift.

Meister of the Match: Josip Stanisic

Stan the Man has stepped up to the plate. The ambidextrous Croatian stole the ball in midfield and continued to run front and center then played a beautiful one-two with Ryan Gravenberch before calmly slotting it past the goalkeeper.