The women's team of 1. FC Union Berlin came through their final test of pre-season with flying colours, beating the Bundesliga's Werder Bremen 4-1 away in Ostereistadt.  Union already had a 3-0 lead after only 20 minutes through goals from Athanasia Moraitou, Nour Youssef and Sarah Abu Sabbah. Sophie Weidauer pulled one back for the hosts in the 20th moinute, but Abu Sabbah mad it four for Union in the second half

SV Werder Bremen: Etzold - Ulbrich, Brandenburg (75. Dahms), Németh (55. Walkling) - Mahmoud (72. Dahl), Wirtz, Hahn (46. Meyer), Hausicke, Lührßen - Weidauer, Sternad (46. Josten).

1. FC Union Berlin: Wagner - Weiß, K. Orschmann (57. Niesler), Becker, Metzker - Görsdorf, Moraitou, Trojahn (71. Blaschka) - Youssef (46. Rurack), Abu Sabbah (71. Bach), D. Orschmann

Goals: 0:1 Moraitou (9.), 0:2 Youssef (12.), 0:3 Abu Sabbah (21.), 1:3 Weidauer (26.), 1:4 Abu Sabbah (60.)

Attendance: 100

Union roar into the lead 

Union were indifferent to the difference in leagues between the sides. Indeed, head coach Ailien Poese's team pressed hard and gave the hosts no time on the ball at all, no breathing space. Time and again, they won the ball in promising situations and were deadly on the break. The game was only nine minutes old when Athanasia Moraitou won the ball in her own half and then lifted it over goalkeeper Hannah Etzold from a good 40 yards.

Union's confidence grew and grew, and they capitalised with a quick second through Nour Youssef. In the twelfth minute, Sarah Abu Sabbah put the ball through to the Union winger, who first hit the crossbar, but then converted the rebound.

Their third also came from devastating break. Katja Orschmann won the ball near her own corner flag, finding Abu Sabbah with a long ball, who shook her marker with ease. The newcomer from Meppen had already shown her ability in the air with an effort against Turbine last week that was just saved. This time there was no stopping her header.

But Bremen are no mugs.After half an hour Sophie Weidauer found space in the penalty area and was able to cut the deficit for Werder Bremen with a fine finish into the far corner. The goal gave coach Thomas Horsch's team more confidence and they grew into the game more and more..

Abu Sabbah makes it four

They began to cancel each other out as the second half rolled on, and neither side had a sniff on goal until the hour mark when Sophie Trojahn anticipated an errant pass by a Bremen player on the right and played it square into the middle. Abu Sabbah was again in the right place and scored her second goal of the afternoon. SV Werder Bremen were awarded a promising free-kick on 82 minutes, but Union's goalkeeper Melanie Wagner had no trouble holding it. In the last minute of the game, Bremen had another good free-kick opportunity, but Nina Lührssen put it wide.

It was the final act of a game that had seen a rousing performance from Union, and one that will only give them renewed confidence going into a crucial season in the Regionalliga. 

The coach's view on the match

"Defensively, we did everything we wanted to do and we started well," said a clearly satisfied Poese after the final whistle. "Especially in the first half, we were very smart in front of goal. We put in a very good performance on the pitch, in our last pre-season friendly, and in the end we absolutely deserved the victory."

The outlook

After the return trip from Ostereistedt, Union's women will start the first week of the season tomorrow, Monday. with training. Then, next Sunday, they will play their first game of the 2023/24 Regionalliga Nordost season, away at Hertha BSC. The match will kick off at 15:00.