The Daily Bee (June 11, 2020): The Bee Returns!

The Daily Bee returns!

Good morning, Fear the Wall, and welcome back to another edition of the Daily Bee. It’s currently far too early for any human being in their right mind to be awake, at least here on the East Coast, but I’m here writing this blog for you, the reader. There’s lots of news in the Bundesliga and around the footballing world, and rather than simply scrolling through your twitter feed, you’ve decided to come here to let my caffeine-fueled sardonic commentary help you sort it all out. Let’s begin.

DFB Pokale Recap

The DFB Cup semifinals are over and done with, and it looks like the Battle of the Bayer(n)s (trademark) is going to Berlin. Leverkusen played on Tuesday and had a pretty easy go of it. They were facing puny FC Saarbrücken of the Regionalliiga Südwest, Germany’s fourth tier division. Die Werkself had no problem dispatching Saarbrücken in front of their empty stands. They controlled nearly every minute of the play, and won a nearly spotless 3-0 victory.

Then, yesterday, a much more even match took place at the Allianz Arena, between Bayern Munich and Eintracht Frankfurt. Frankfurt shot themselves in the feet by playing very defensively during the first half, allowing Bayern to grab a goal and go into half-time with a 1-0 lead. Frankfurt made a fight of it during the second half, though, and even managed to grab an equalizer when a fancy bit of dribbling from Daichi Kamada set up a pretty-looking curled effort from Danny Da Costa. Unfortunately for Frankfurt, Bayern would retake the lead minutes later with a goal from Robert Lewandowski.

The DFB Cup Final will be on July 4th at the Olympiastadion in Berlin. Assuming that Bayern have clinched the Bundesliga title by then, it will be up to Leverkusen to stop the Bavarians from winning a domestic double. It would be the second DFB Cup for Leverkusen in their history, and the first since 1993.

Hakimi to Stay in Dortmund After All?

Ruhr Nachrichten have reported that Michael Zorc is still working with Achraf Hakimi and his agent to keep the Moroccan full back around for another year:

It would be a big relief if Hakimi were to stick around for another year. It already seems like BVB will lose Sancho in the summer, and losing Hakimi would be a double whammy. It’s ultimately up to him and his agent to decide whether he wants to go back to Madrid or stay in Dortmund, but hopefully, if Zorc feels comfortable airing this attitude to the media, there’s at least a chance that Hakimi will stay another year.

Daily Buzz

Assuming Hakimi does go back to Real Madrid, who would you choose to replace him?