Women’s worldwide round-up: Wolfsburg gain seventh straight win as Lyon’s draw against Dijon results in a change at the top in France

Posted on October 22, 2019 in Articles, Women's Football

Martin Whiteley is back with another week of women’s fixtures and all the results you may have missed in this latest worldwide round-up.

Wolfsburg gain seventh straight win to maintain lead over Hoffenheim

Leaders Wolfsburg continued their perfect Frauen-Bundesliga start after a 3-0 success away to FFC Frankfurt, who lost their second game in a row to stay fifth on 12 points, writes Martin Whiteley.

Second-place Hoffenheim got this week’s action underway on Friday night with a 3-1 away win against Bayer Leverkusen. Nicole Billa scoring a brace of goals in the opening 20 minutes to set Hoffenheim on their way.

Two sides sit with 15 points. Bayern Munich got back to winning ways after a 3-1 home success against Turbine Potsdam to stay third in the table. SGS Essen matched the score of Bayern Munich to defeat Cologne at home and gain their third victory on the bounce to remain in fourth place.

Change at the top in France after Lyon drop points

Coming into action this weekend both Lyon and PSG had won their first five league games.

PSG were the first to play and able to put down a marker with a 2-0 derby win against Paris FC. Marie-Antoinette Katoto scoring a goal in each half for the home side.

Lyon took to the field for the final Feminine Division 1 game of the weekend against Dijon, who at the time of kick-off sat at the foot of the table with just one point to their name.

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Missing Lucy Bronze from the side, Alex Greenwood of the English contingent made the starting line-up. Nikita Parris came off the bench in the second half, while Izzy Christiansen was an unused substitute.

Despite having plenty of possession the champions could not find a way through and had to settle for a share of the spoils. The draw for Dijon was enough to move them off the bottom above Metz.

Montpellier with 13 points and Bordeaux on 12 points stayed third and fourth after both recorded 3-0 wins against Metz and Marseille respectively.

Barcelona and Deportivo de La Coruña remain unbeaten

Primera División Femenina leaders Barcelona not only moved to 16 points, but also improved their goal difference after a 5-0 home win against Logroño.

Deportivo de La Coruña also advanced to 16 points, but it was an altogether more nervous situation away to Sporting de Huelva. A second-half goal from Alba Merino made the difference between the sides.

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Another side to win by the narrowest of margins was third in the table Atletico Madrid, who had the Lionesses Toni Duggan in their starting line-up.

Charlyn Corral scored the only goal against Madrid in the 19th minute to keep Atletico Madrid just one point behind the brace of teams above them.

Teams to play for NWSL Championship decided

After winning the NWSL Shield for having the best regular-season record North Carolina Courage already knew they would have a semi-final on home soil. The extra incentive to be victors in that postseason game for the Courage was that the contest to crown a champion this year was also going to be played on their home field.

Reign FC had a chance on the final regular-season weekend to move up to third place but were held to a 2-2 draw by Orlando Pride. They left them in fourth before heading on a trip to North Carolina.

During the regular-season North Carolina had won two of the three games against Reign FC, but each one had been competitive. This semi-final was also following that scrip and as time ran down it was still scoreless.

Heather O’Reilly then found the net from the penalty spot to give North Carolina the lead in the 88th minute.

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With the home fans celebrating as the three minutes of stoppage time were counting down Reign FC got an equaliser. It was Ifeoma Onumonu — a second-half substitute for England international Jodie Taylor — who got the goal.

The disappointment with everyone associated with North Carolina was short-lived as they dominated extra-time to finish as 4-1 winners.

In the other semi-final Chicago had home advantage as they ended the regular-season second to the third spot achieved by Portland Thorns.

Despite the better overall regular-season record going the way of Chicago, it was actually Portland who had the superior success between the two sides when they met. After a 4-4 draw in their opening contest, Portland secured the victory in the other two games, scoring three goals on each occasion.

If you are going to only win a single game in a campaign against a certain team, you may as well make it one that counts at the business end of the season and that is exactly what the Red Stars did. An eighth-minute goal from Sam Kerr was enough to see Chicago through to their first championship appearance.

Follow Martin on Twitter @673martin