Women’s Bundesliga: Only a draw despite a phantom goal: Wolfsburg’s difficult start

After the lucky point for his football team thanks to a phantom goal, coach Tommy Stroot was VfL Wolfsburg Sauer. “I deliberately said how important these games are,” said the 35-year-old after the wild 3:3 (1:2) draw at the start of the Bundesliga season against Werder Bremen. That’s why he doesn’t want to downplay the disappointing tie. “I’m actually a bit annoyed now, which you don’t often see from me,” he said at the press conference.

The fact that Stroot and his players did not experience a single defeat was thanks to the misjudgment of referee Nadine Westerhoff. She had disallowed the alleged goal by national player Alexandra Popp to make it 3:3 in the 66th minute, although the ball landed clearly on the goal line in TV images and bounced back into the field from there. Bremen goalkeeper Livia Peng had previously shot at Popp. The ball then flew from the attacker’s position towards the Werder goal with a lot of spin. The women’s Bundesliga does not have VAR like in the men’s Bundesliga. Luck was not always on VfL’s side in the game, said Stroot. “When you see the goal that made it 3:3, then of course it was,” he admitted.