Serge Gnabry and Thomas Muller on Tuesday scored late to help Bayern Munich avoid an upset by beating second-division VfL Bochum 2-1 in the DFB Pokal.
An own-goal from Canadian teen Alphonso Davies in the 36th minute had put the hosts on course for a win over the defending champions.
Bochum defended well, even after Bayern coach Niko Kovac brought on striker Robert Lewandowski at the break, followed by Philippe Coutinho and Muller midway through the second half.
Gnabry equalized in the 83rd minute and Muller grabbed the winner in the 89th after Armel Bella Kotchap had been sent off the minute before. The 17-year-old Bochum defender had an excellent game, but attempted to make up for a mistake by bringing down Muller, who would have been through on goal.
Lewandowski went without scoring for the first time in a competitive game for Bayern this season.
Schalke 04 survived a scare to win 3-2 at second-division DSC Arminia Bielefeld, who scored two late goals, struck the post and had the ball cleared off the line in a frenetic finale.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen defeated SC Paderborn 07 1-0 and Karlsruher SC won 1-0 at second-division rivals SV Darmstadt 98.
Elsewhere, fourth-tier Saarbruecken scored late to upset Cologne 3-2, Union Berlin defeated Bundesliga rivals SC Freiburg 3-1 away, TSG 1899 Hoffenheim won 2-0 at third-division NSV Duisburg and VfB Stuttgart needed extra-time to beat second-division rivals Hamburg SV 2-1.
RECORD DEFEAT: The Shanghai-based ‘Oriental Sports Daily’ said the drubbing was so disastrous, and taste so bitter, that all that is left is ‘numbness’ Chinese soccer fans and media rounded on the national team yesterday after they experienced fresh humiliation in a 7-0 thrashing to rivals Japan in their opening Group C match in the third phase of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. The humiliation in Saitama on Thursday against Asia’s top-ranked team was China’s worst defeat in World Cup qualifying and only a goal short of their record 8-0 loss to Brazil in 2012. Chinese President Xi Jinping once said he wanted China to host and even win the World Cup one day, but that ambition looked further away than ever after a
‘KHELIFMANIA’: In the weeks since the Algerian boxer won gold in Paris, national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women In the weeks since Algeria’s Imane Khelif won an Olympic gold medal in women’s boxing, athletes and coaches in the North African nation say national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women. Khelif’s image is practically everywhere, featured in advertisements at airports, on highway billboards and in boxing gyms. The 25-year-old welterweight’s success in Paris has vaulted her to national hero status, especially after Algerians rallied behind her in the face of uninformed speculation about her gender and eligibility to compete. Amateur boxer Zougar Amina, a medical student who has been practicing for a year, called Khelif an
Crowds descended on the home of 17-year-old Chinese diver Quan Hongchan after she won two golds at the Paris Olympics while gymnast Zhang Boheng hid in a Beijing airport toilet to escape overzealous throngs of fans. They are just two recent examples of what state media are calling “toxic fandom” and Chinese authorities have vowed to crack down on it. Some of the adulation toward China’s sports stars has been more sinister — fans obsessing over athletes’ personal lives, cyberbullying opponents or slamming supposedly crooked judges. Experts say it mirrors the kind of behavior once reserved for entertainment celebrities before
GOING GLOBAL: The regular season fixture is part of the football league’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the sport to international destinations The US National Football League (NFL) breaks new ground in its global expansion strategy tomorrow when the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers face off in the first-ever grid-iron game staged in Brazil. For one night only, the land of Pele and ‘The Beautiful Game’ will get a rare glimpse into the bone-crunching world of American football as the Packers and Eagles collide at Sao Paulo’s Neo Quimica Arena, the 46,000-seat home of soccer club Corinthians. The regular season fixture is part of the NFL’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the US’ most popular sport to new territories following previous international fixtures
RSS