Bayern Campus Round Up, March Edition 2: The struggles continue…but the U-17s make a startling comeback

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MUNICH, GERMANY - FEBRUARY 21: (BILD ZEITUNG OUT) head coach Holger Seitz of FC Bayern Munich II looks on during the 3. Liga match between Bayern Muenchen II and Viktoria Köln at Stadion an der Gruenwalder Straße on February 21, 2021 in Munich, Germany. (Photo by Roland Krivec/DeFodi Images via Getty Images) | DeFodi Images via Getty Images

Welcome to the FC Bayern Campus Round Up, where the matches of Bayern Munich’s U-23 and U-19 squad are recapped, line ups are provided and the highlights to the matches are hyperlinked on top of their respective score line. The U-17s are there as well but Bayern unfortunately did not release any highlights of their match. Remember, to watch highlights you need to have an account on the website but do not need to spend any money.

Information on U-23, U-19 and U-17 matches is provided by the official FC Bayern website here, here and here, respectively. If you wish to learn more about the format of the U-17 and U-19’s youth leagues and what is at stake, you can find more info here. Additionally, none of these matches can be viewed in full length without an FCBayernTV subscription. Without further ado, here is the round up:

SpVgg Bayreuth 2-1 Bayern II (U-23s), Matchday 22

Bayern lineup (with subs): Bärtl – Manuba (84. Scott), Deziel Jr., Puljić (74. Heindl), Ofli (68. Degraf) – Della Rovere, Schmitz, Rüger (46. Sadat) – Schuhbauer (46. Darboe), Heinz, Yanda.

Goals: 1:0 Fesser (14.), 2:0 George (42.), 2:1 Heinz (67.)

Unused subs: Heilmair.

Unavailable players: Tim Binder, Leon Klanac, Steve Breitkreuz, Younes Aitamer, David Heindl, Louis Richter, Maycon Cardozo, David Santos Daiber

Position: 6., 32 points

While Cardozo and Daiber were celebrating a debut and more minutes played with the Bayern first team, respectively, the U-23s dearly missed them. Left back Deniz Ofli, who moved up to the U-23s with Cardozo and Daiber at the turn of the new year, could feel slightly aggrieved at not joining the latter two, especially considering the senior team’s current left back crisis.

But he was needed for the U-23s, who bizarrely lined up with four full backs. Right back Maximilian Schuhbauer and left back Julien Yanda lined up as wingers on either flank, with Vincent Manuba and Ofli behind them. In turn, four forwards in Michael Scott, Arthur Degraf, Mudaser Sadat and Bajung Darboe were left on the bench. Go figure. None of the forwards have been in good form lately, but it was still a strange move.

Whatever the reason for the gambit was, it did not work. Despite some decent spells of possession, Bayern lacked any sort of cutting edge. Meanwhile, two defensive blunders allowed relegation battling SpVgg Bayreuth to go 2-0 up. Despite top scorer Anton Heinz eventually pulling one back, the Bavarians never really created enough to deserve more than this defeat.

Bayern II continue to drift in midtable, not bothered by relegation worries but also too far away from the top spot of the league to really fight for anything. The next match will be in midweek on Tuesday against Augsburg’s U-23s.

Rasenballsport Leipzig U-19s 4-3 Bayern U-19s, Matchday 4

Bayern lineup (with subs): Prescott – Matosevic, Pavić, Mijatović (40. Chemwor), Ajayi – Schmid, Lambe – Mike (90. Bohomo) , Snip (90. Egwuatu), Hentcho Nseke (73. Zöls) – Gashi (73. Codjo-Ewora).

Goals: 0:1 Schmid (17.), 1:1 Konate (20.), 1:2 Snip (26.), 1:3 Chemwor (44.), 2:3 Al Khalaf (62.), 3:3 Konate (76.), 4:3 Langsteiner (90.+2).

Unused subs: Ruland

Unavailable players: Michel Ekodi, Chivano Wijks, Noah Codjo-Evora, Chris Afanou, Cassiano Kiala, Bogdan Olychenko, Raphael Pavlić, Ryan Moumouni, Luis Schäfer

Position: 4., 7 points

What a truly terrible day it was for the U-19s. Despite contesting just 3 matches of the new league phase, the injury list is now at 8 players strong. Add in the absence of Schäfer, who picked up a red card in the last match, and that is 9 players out.

But, with a little bit of luck, the U-19s entered half-time 3-1 to the good. Leopold Schmid sent Wisdom Mike with an initially strong pass, got the ball back and stroked a shot into the back of the net from 18 yards. Mike would again be involved in the second goal, though some more good fortune was required as the ball bounced around the box from Mike’s initial shot to Snip, who finished coolly. Finally, left back Richard Ajayi, who enjoyed a productive game, snuck the ball through to Snip again, who found Chemwor at the edge of the six yard box and set up a simple finish to the latter player.

Unfortunately, the defense struggled. Many of the absentees were defenders, so the starting backline of Matosevic (not a right back), Filip Pavić (first minutes for the U-19s), Roko Mijatović (first start since return from injury at the start of the season) and Richard Ajayi (very attacking, fourth start for the U-19s) was very far from ideal. Pavić, not to be confused with regular U-19 CB Pavlić, was badly outpaced for Leipzig’s equalizer. Then poor Roko Mijatović re-injured himself in the 40th minute, forcing Allen Lambé into the defense.

Perhaps it is not that surprising that the defense then conceded three goals. Defensive disorganization led to goals 2 for Leipzig, goal 3 came from a highly debatable penalty call while goal 4 came in added time to give the Cans all three points.

The U-19’s table now looks like this:

1. FC Kaiserslautern, 11 points
2. Rasenballsport Leipzig, 10 points
3. Borussia Mönchengladbach, 8 points
4. FC Bayern, 7 points
5. Hannover 96, 5 points
6. Berliner AK, 0 points

FC Kaiserslautern U-17s 1-3 Bayern U-17s, Matchday 5

Bayern lineup (with subs): Podar-Stiube – Pucci, Gashi, Masimby (80. Attalai), Horvath (30. Zogaj) – Schaff (68. Nuraj), Osmani, Horoszczak – Hentcho Nseke, Turbic (80. von Taube), Babl (68. Danioko)

Goals: 0:1 Hentcho Nseke (14.), 0:2 Zogaj (64.), 1:2 Hofmeister (75.), 1:3 Osmani (90+1.)

Last weekend, Bayern had played three games, lost all three and were bottom of the table. A fairly successful week and two games later, though, sees Bayern in a much better position. During midweek, they drew 2-2 against TSG Hoffenheim, throwing away a 2 goal lead against what is now the team at the bottom of the table. They followed that point up with a fairly convincing 3-1 win away to Kaiserslautern, which catapults them into 4th place in the table.

Bayern took the lead as winger Luca Babl found Hentcho Nseke in the box with a firm cross. Bayern created more quality chances than the opponents but could not use them until a set piece just after the hour mark saw Zogaj and Bayern stretch the lead to 2-0. A sloppy mistake let the hosts back into the match but another set piece, this time a quickly taken free kick, sealed the deal late on.

The U-17’s table now looks like this:

1. FC Köln, 10 points
2. 1. FC Nürnberg, 10 points
3. Karlsruhe SC, 9 points
4. Bayern Munich, 4 points
5. 1. FC Kaiserslautern, 4 points
6. TSG Hoffenheim, 2 points

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