BERLIN (AP) — Serhou Guirassy scored late for Borussia Dortmund to cut Bayern Munich’s Bundesliga lead to three points on Saturday with a 2-1 win at Wolfsburg.
Wolfsburg dominated the second half with Mohamed Amoura missing several good chances and Maximilian Arnold striking the crossbar.
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Dortmund's Julian Ryerson, right, and Wolfsburg's Jeanuel Belocian fight for the ball during their German Bundesliga soccer match in Wolfsburg, Germany, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. (David Inderlied/dpa via AP)
Dortmund's Julian Ryerson, left, and Julian Brand celebrate after their team's first goal during their German Bundesliga soccer match against Wolfsburg in Wolfsburg, Germany, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. (David Inderlied/dpa via AP)
Wolfsburg's players celebrate after scoring during their German Bundesliga soccer match against Borussia Dortmund in Wolfsburg, Germany, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. (David Inderlied/dpa via AP)
Dortmund's Serhou Guirassy, left, and Wolfsburg's Jan Buerger fight for the ball during their German Bundesliga soccer match in Wolfsburg, Germany, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. (David Inderlied/dpa via AP)
Dortmund's Serhou Guirassy celebrates after scoring their side's second goal of the game during the German Bundesliga soccer match between Wolfsburg and Borussia Dortmund, in Wolfsburg, Germany, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. (David Inderlied/dpa via AP)
Dortmund’s Maximilian Beier hit the underside of the bar with a deflected shot in the first half, when Julian Brandt opened the scoring with a header from Julian Ryerson’s corner in the 38th for the visitors.
Konstantinos Koulierakis replied in similar fashion after the break with a header from Arnold’s free kick, but Wolfsburg was to rue not taking its chances to score more.
Guirassy pounced for the winner in the 87th after good play between Fábio Silva and Felix Nmecha.
“That’s part of football,” Dortmund coach Niko Kovač said of his team’s scrappy win. “But then to decide it with one action is also a quality.”
Eighteen-year-old Italian defender Luca Reggiani went on late for Dortmund for his Bundesliga debut.
American winger Kevin Paredes made his first Wolfsburg start since April 25 after recovering from two operations on his right foot.
Bayern, which failed to win its last two games, can restore its six-point lead with a win over high-flying Hoffenheim on Sunday.
Borussia Mönchengladbach held Bayer Leverkusen to a 1-1 draw, ending the visitor's four-game winning run across all competitions and dealing a blow to its Champions League qualification hopes.
Leverkusen moved to fifth, ahead of Leipzig on goal difference before the latter visits Cologne on Sunday.
Werder Bremen’s coaching change did little to alter its fortunes as the team lost 1-0 in Freiburg on Daniel Thioune’s debut.
Jan-Niklas Beste let fly and found the top far corner in the 13th for Freiburg, which had Johan Manzambi sent off early in the second half for a foul on Bremen’s Olivier Deman.
Thioune’s team was unable to capitalize on the extra player and is now 11 league games without a win. Bremen faces a visit from Bayern next weekend.
St. Pauli boosted its survival hopes with a hard-fought 2-1 win over Stuttgart.
The Hamburg-based team remained second-from-bottom, but it opened a four-point gap on bottom side Heidenheim, which lost 2-0 at home to Hamburger SV. Bremen's defeat means St. Pauli is just two points from the relegation playoff place.
Nadiem Amiri scored two penalties, one in each half, for Mainz to beat Augsburg 2-0 for its third straight win.
Amiri ripped off his distinctive carnival-inspired jersey as he celebrated the second one to seal the win. The thoughtful Lee Jae-sung picked it up so he could resume when the celebrations died down.
Mainz next visits Dortmund.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Dortmund's Julian Ryerson, right, and Wolfsburg's Jeanuel Belocian fight for the ball during their German Bundesliga soccer match in Wolfsburg, Germany, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. (David Inderlied/dpa via AP)
Dortmund's Julian Ryerson, left, and Julian Brand celebrate after their team's first goal during their German Bundesliga soccer match against Wolfsburg in Wolfsburg, Germany, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. (David Inderlied/dpa via AP)
Wolfsburg's players celebrate after scoring during their German Bundesliga soccer match against Borussia Dortmund in Wolfsburg, Germany, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. (David Inderlied/dpa via AP)
Dortmund's Serhou Guirassy, left, and Wolfsburg's Jan Buerger fight for the ball during their German Bundesliga soccer match in Wolfsburg, Germany, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. (David Inderlied/dpa via AP)
Dortmund's Serhou Guirassy celebrates after scoring their side's second goal of the game during the German Bundesliga soccer match between Wolfsburg and Borussia Dortmund, in Wolfsburg, Germany, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. (David Inderlied/dpa via AP)
TOKYO (AP) — Polls opened Sunday in parliamentary elections that Japan's popular Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi hopes will give her struggling party a big enough win to push through an ambitious conservative political agenda.
Takaichi is hugely popular, but the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, which has governed Japan for most of the last seven decades, has struggled from funding and religious scandals. She called Sunday’s snap elections only after three months in office, hoping to turn that around before her popularity fades.
She wants to make progress on a right-wing agenda that aims to boost Japan’s economy and military capabilities as tensions grow with China. She also wants to nurture ties with her crucial U.S. ally, and a sometimes unpredictable President Donald Trump.
The ultraconservative Takaichi, who took office as Japan’s first female leader in October, pledged to “work, work, work,” and her style, which is seen as both playful and tough, has resonated with younger fans.
The latest surveys indicated a landslide win in the lower house for the LDP. The opposition, despite the formation of a new centrist alliance and a rising far-right, is seen as too splintered to be a real challenger.
Takaichi is betting that her LDP party, together with its new partner, the Japan Innovation Party, will secure a majority in the 465-seat lower house, the more powerful of Japan’s two-chamber parliament.
Recent surveys by major Japanese newspapers show a possibility that Takaichi’s party could win a simple majority on its own while her coalition could win as many as 300 seats, a big jump from a thin majority it held since a 2024 election loss.
If the LDP fails to win a majority, “I will step down,” she said.
A big win by Takaichi’s coalition could mean a significant shift to the right in Japan’s security, immigration and other policies, with its right-wing partner JIP's leader Hirofumi Yoshimura saying his party will serve as an “accelerator.”
Japan has recently seen far-right populists gain ground, such as the anti-globalist and surging nationalist party Sanseito.
Takaichi has pledged to revise security and defense policies by December to bolster Japan’s offensive military capabilities, lifting a ban on weapons exports and moving further away from the country’s postwar pacifist principles.
She has been pushing for tougher policies on foreigners, anti-espionage and other measures that resonate with a far-right audience but ones that experts say could undermine civil rights.
Takaichi also wants to increase defense spending in response to Trump’s pressure on Japan to loosen its purse strings.
Though Takaichi said she is seeking the public's mandate for her “nation splitting policies,” she avoided contentious issues such as ways to fund soaring military spending, how to fix diplomatic tension with China and other controversial issues.
In her campaign speeches, Takaichi enthusiastically talked about the need for “proactive” government spending to fund “crisis management investment and growth,” such as measures to strengthen economic security, technology and other industries. Takaichi also seeks to push tougher measures on immigration and foreigners, including stricter requirements for foreign property owners and a cap on foreign residents.
The snap election after only three months in office “underscores a problematic trend in Japanese politics in which political survival takes priority over substantive policy outcomes,” said Masato Kamikubo, a Ritsumeikan University politics professor. “Whenever the government attempts necessary but unpopular reforms ... the next election looms.”
There are some uncertainties. The hastily called election that gave little time for people to prepare has already invited complaints.
Sunday’s vote also began under fresh snowfall across the country, including in Tokyo. Record snowfall in northern Japan over the past few weeks, which blocked roads and was blamed for dozens of deaths nationwide, could hinder voting or delay vote counting in hard-hit areas. How her popularity will translate into votes among younger voters, notorious for their low turnout, during bad weather is unpredictable.
Kazuki Ishihara, 54, said she voted for the LDP for stability and in hopes for something new under Takaichi. “I have some hope that she could do something” her predecessors could not.
A 50-year-old office worker Yoshinori Tamada said his interest is wages. “I think a lot when I look at my pay slip, and I cast my vote for a party that I believe I can trust in that regard.”
Associated Press video journalist Mayuko Ono in Tokyo contributed to this report.
A voter fills in a ballot in the lower house election at a polling station Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)
A voter fills in a ballot in the lower house election at a polling station Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)
A voter fills in a ballot in the upper house election at a polling station Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)
A voter casts a ballot in the upper house election at a polling station Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)
A voter casts a ballot in the upper house election at a polling station Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)
