After the lucky point for his women’s soccer team thanks to a phantom goal, coach Tommy Stroot of VfL Wolfsburg was angry. “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 make the disappointing tie any smaller than it was. “I’m actually a bit annoyed now, which you don’t often see me like,” he said in the press conference.
The fact that Stroot and his players did not even suffer defeat was thanks to the referee Nadine Westerhoff’s misjudgment. She had acknowledged the supposed goal by national player Alexandra Popp to make it 3:3 in the 66th minute, even though the ball landed on the goal line as was clearly visible on 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 team 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 to make it 3:3, then of course it was,” he admitted.
The draw was definitely a setback for their own ambitions. VfL Wolfsburg sees itself as a challenger to the German champions and favorites FC Bayern Munich. Now the cup winners are behind from the start. “That’s why it annoys me. Because I know that more could have been achieved,” said Stroot.
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