Welcome to Fear The Wall’s weekly update on the kids. This will include updates to Borussia Dortmund’s U17, U19, and U23 teams. If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments.

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Borussia Dortmund U17

B-Junioren Bundesliga West

Julian Rijkhoff tore a ligament in training.

Borussia Dortmund U19

A-Junioren Bundesliga West, DFB-Junioren Pokal

The Borussia Dortmund’s U19 team lost a friendly 2-0 on March 27^th against Eintracht Frankfurt’s U19.

Starting lineup included Silas Ostrzinski (GK), Tim Böhmer, Maik Amedick, Göktan Gürpüz, Faroukou Cisse, Colin Noah Kleine-Bekel, Nnamdi Collins, Samuel Bamba, Abu-Bekir Ömer El-Zein, Bradley Fink, and Noah Mrosek.

Subbed on were Lloyd Kuffour for Abu-Bekir Ömer El-Zein (46’), Julius Finn Rauch for Tim Böhmer (46’), Michel Ludwig for Faroukou Cisse (58’), Kamal Bafounta Ortega for Samuel Bamba (58’),

Borussia Dortmund II (U23)

Regionalliga West

Borussia Dortmund II continued their stretch of 16 unbeaten games with a 3-1 win at Bonner SC (hello, Marian Sarr and Jonas Hupe) on March 24^th.

The starting 11 was captained by Steffen Tigges:

Kolbeinn Birgir Finnsson was obviously not available for this game as he is still with the Iceland U21s. In Iceland’s first group stage game against Russia, a 4-1 loss, he came on from the bench in the 85^th minute. In their second match, a 2-0 loss to Denmark, Kolbeinn Birgir Finnsson started and played the full 90. He drew one foul and had a passing rate of 59%.

Photo by Peter Zador/DeFodi Images via Getty Images

Back to the BVB U23s, Florian Krebs returned from his brief injury, while Dominik Wanner joined Patrick Osterhage and Moritz Broschinksi on IR.

The first half started offensively on both sides of the field. Bonn scored a goal early, but it was waived off due to a foul. The two teams traded chances until Richmond Tachie scored off a Steffen Tigges assist (29’).

In the second half, BVB II was solid in their defense and dominant in their offense. Steffen Tigges scored his 17^th goal of the season from Richmond Tachie (58’). The deciding goal was scored by Taylan Duman off a penalty kick after a handball (65’). Enrico Maaßen made three subs to follow: Haymenn Bah-Traore for Taylan Duman, Aday Ercan for Alaa Bakir, Cebrails Makreckis for Richmond Tachie (68’). Bonn got a consolation goal in the 73^rd minute. One final sub was made as Migel-Max Schmeling came on for Ansgar Knauff (84’).

Alaa Bakir received a yellow card.

Photo by Mario Hommes/DeFodi Images via Getty Images

Now up to 17 unbeaten games, BVB II won 1-0 at Fortuna Düsseldorf II on March 27^th.

Steffen Tigges captained the team again:

Taylan Duman injured himself against Bonn and was unavailable for this game. Patrick Osterhage and Moritz Broschinksi continue to be out injured. Defensemen Albin Thaqi got “called up” from the U19s!

The game began chippy before a few shots hit the crossbars on either side. The U23s continued to pressure Düsseldorf into mistakes, which inevitably led to a foul on Richmond Tachie in the box. Tobias Raschl took the penalty kick and scored in the 20^th minute.

The U23s kept up the intensity until throughout the first half and into the second. Düsseldorf did get stronger as the game went on (score effects and so), but Dortmund II kept strong defensively. Enrico Maaßen made a few subs to defend the slim lead: Dominik Wanner for Haymenn Bah-Traore (71’), Cebrails Makreckis for Richmond Tachie (81’), and Alaa Bakir for Ansgar Knauff (85’). Steffen Tigges had quite a few chances to get the 2-0, but alas. Albin Thaqi made his Regionalliga debut for Tobias Raschl (89’) in the waning minutes.

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Looking Ahead

Borussia Dortmund U17

☹ the B-Junioren Bundesliga season is over ☹

Borussia Dortmund U19

☹ the A-Junioren Bundesliga season is over ☹

Borussia Dortmund II

After two busy weeks and before another, lies a quieter week. BVB II hosts Fortuna Köln on April 4^th.

Köln sits fourth with 52 points in 30 games (14W-10D-6L) and a goal differential of +17 (52:35). They had a week and a half break and thus come into the game well rested. However, of their last five games, they lost three before winning the last two. So not everything is peachy-keen and hopefully the U23s can be clinical in their finishing.

Dortmund II remains in first place with 71 points (21W-8D-1L) and a goal differential of +53 (74:21). Rot-Weiss Essen lost to Rot Weiss Ahlen 2-1 and drew 1-1 to Rot-Weiß Oberhausen, in the last minute of both, which increases the U23s lead to 9 points! This makes it seem like promotion is imminent, but this is no time to take the foot off the gas.

Stats from kicker.de and fussball.de