The Daily Bee (June 24th, 2019): Hakimi comeback, Dahoud in the semifinal and BVB’s center back conundrum

• BVB’s center-back conundrum

Mats Hummels will officially return to Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday when he completes his medical which means BVB will have 6 starting caliber central defenders on the roster. At least one of them, maybe even two, should be looking for a new club this summer because there simply isn’t enough playing time especially if Lucien Favre keeps on playing with a 4-man backline.

Hummels and Akanji are the probable starters and Balerdi just joined six months ago which leaves the other three, Toprak, Diallo and Zagadou, with an uncertain future. One of the candidates for an exit has been Ömer Toprak who has now emphatically denied that he’ll move on:

Talking to kicker Toprak has made clear that he won’t give up so easily which leaves Zagadou and Diallo for a potential transfer.

• Hakimi comeback

Yet another international tournament has started this weekend, the Africa Cup of Nations. In Morocco’s first game of the tournament Achraf Hakimi gave his comeback after three months out with a foot injury and immediately played the entire game. The fullback still looked a bit rusty but his team was still able to beat Namibia 1:0. The next opponents will be the Ivory Coast and South Africa.

• FIFA Women’s World Cup

The first round of sixteen games have been played over the weekend and until now the European teams have dominated, Germany (3:0 vs Nigeria), Norway (4:1 penalty shootout vs Australia), England (3:0 vs Cameroon) and France (2:1 in extra time vs Brazil) are through to the quartefinals.

Today tournament favorites USA will face Spain and Sweden take on Canada

• U21 Euros

Mo Dahoud and Germany are through to the semifinals of the U21 Euros thanks to a 1:1 against Austria. Luca Waldschmidt scored a stunner to secure Germany a first place finish in group B and their place among the four best teams in Europe.

Jaco Bruun Larsen scored the opener in Denmark’s 2:0 victory over Serbia but it was not enough to get through to the next round. Only the group winners have a guaranteed spot in the next round, they will be joined by the best second placed team of the three groups and sadly for Denmark they already lose that comparison to Italy in group A who have also six points but a better goal difference.

Today France will play Romania to see which team will win group C. Both teams could advance to the next round with a draw or a narrow France win.

Daily Buzz: Who should start for BVB on defense and which of the center-backs would you like to keep on the roster for the upcoming season?