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

Borussia Dortmund II (U23)

Regionalliga West

It was Revierderby time in Dortmund! Dortmund II leapt out to an early 3-0 lead, so things were looking great! And then they conceded one goal, and then another, and finally committed a handball in the 18 to give Schalke 04 II a penalty kick, which the converted. Thus, the derby on April 24^th ended in a 3-3 draw between the two Ruhrgebiet sides.

With Schalke 04 getting relegated to the 2. Bundesliga, and Dortmund II possibly going up to the 3. Liga, this could have been the last derby for a little bit, which is quite crazy to think about. At least in my lifetime, the two teams have been in the Bundesliga together, so there’s always been the biannual Revierderby. Anyway, enough reminiscing about old times.

Steffen Tigges was up with the senior team this weekend. Ansgar Knauff was back with the U23s in place of Felix Passlack. Moritz Broschinksi, Taylan Duman, and Maximilian Hippe remain injured. Patrick Osterhage was back in team training!

Franz Pfanne was the captain this week:

BVB II got off to a hot start, with Dominik Wanner scoring after just eight minutes. Luca Unbehaun didn’t need to make a save until 27 minutes had gone by. Shortly after, Niklas Dams was fouled in the box and Dortmund II received a penalty kick. Tobias Raschl converted from the spot to make it 2-0 (30‘). The intensity was kept on and U-19 player Albin Thaqi made it 3-0 five minutes later (35’). Shortly before the halftime whistle, Schalke II had a counter and made it a two-goal game (37’).

The second half began sloppy and offensive plays had to be put on the back burner. In the 60^th minute, Schalke II got their second goal off a deflected shot. The boys in blue took this swing of momentum and went to work. Dortmund II did have two counters late in the game, but nothing came of it. The opposite happened when a ball bounced off Tobias Raschl’s hand after a corner kick and Schalke was awarded a penalty kick in the 90+3^rd minute. The game ended 3-3.

Only one yellow card was handed out during this game, but to a Schalke player, so irrelevant. Enrico Maaßen made the following substitutions: Haymenn Bah-Traore for Dominik Wanner (63‘), Cebrails Makreckis for Richmond Tachie (69‘), Kolbeinn Birgir Finnsson for Ansgar Knauff (74‘), Aday Ercan for Florian Krebs (78‘).

Looking Ahead

Borussia Dortmund II

There is no game next weekend due to the holiday on May 1 (Tag der Arbeit). Dortmund II will play next against SV Rödinghausen on May 8^th. Rödinghausen is in 5^th place with 54 points (14W-12D-9L) and a goal differential of +12 (46:34).

Even with dropping points, Dortmund II remains in first place. Rot-Weiss Essen is seven points behind, but have one game in hand. BVB II has 82 points (24W-10D-1L) and a goal differential of +58 (84:26). The unbeaten streak is now 22 games. Hopefully, the week break will do these boys some good. They haven’t clinched promotion yet, and Essen is hot on their tails, so no time to let up.

Stats from kicker.de and fussball.de