After driving way too many miles, I am now in the far north of the contiguous United States and am writing this wrapped in a snuggie because somehow it’s already only 40°F outside. Anywho, while the rest of the soccer world watched the Bundesliga kick off, I was translating the Borussia Dortmund podcast episode and watching 3. Liga action, where I believe the motto is “boys will be boys”.

As always, leave your comments, questions, concerns, recommendations, favorite pets, best jokes, cold weather tips, etc. below!

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Borussia Dortmund U17

B-Junioren Bundesliga West, NRW-Ligapokal B-Junioren

So far so good in the NRW Ligapokal for the U17s. They won their first game against SV Lippstadt 08 on August 8^th comfortably 5-0. The goals came from Raul König (21’, 69’), Noel Werner (37’), Marlon Ubani (42’), and an own goal (68’).

Their second game went just as well with a 5-1 win over Rot-Weiss Essen on August 14^th. Jaden Korzynietz (PK 18’, 56’), Marlon Ubani (29’), Reber Babir (34’), and Kjell-Arik Wätjen (68’) were the goal scorers.

Borussia Dortmund U19

A-Junioren Bundesliga West, NRW-Ligapokal A-Junioren, DFB Junioren Pokal

The U19s had a great start to the NRW Ligapokal as well with a 4-1 win over SC Preußen Münster on August 7^th. Goals came courtesy of Julian Rijkhoff (1’, 57’), Bradley Fink (26’), and Colin Kleine-Bekel (89’).

Their second game against TSV Alemannia Aachen on August 15^th was a dominant 8-0 win. Erling Haaland may have scored five goals in the last two games, but Bradley Fink scored five (39’, PK 44’, 46’, 51’, 79’) in this game alone! Julian Rijkhoff (12’), Dennis Lütke Frie (64’), and Abu-Bekir Ömer El-Zein (73’) also scored goals.

Players unavailable for these games were Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Nnamdi Collins, Mika Lenninghaus, and Silas Ostrzinski due to injuries and Göktan Gürpüz who is with the senior team.

Borussia Dortmund II (U23)

3. Liga

The U23 boys traveled down to the Schwarzwald to face the other U23 team in the 3. Liga: SC Freiburg II. Lennard Maloney was back from the senior team and immediately went into the starting 11, replacing Albin Thaqi. Ole Pohlmann also got his first start in place of Ansgar Knauff, who was with the senior team.

Niklas Dams was still suspended for this game and Marco Hober is in rehabilitation training. Moritz Broschinski and Florian Krebs remain injured.

The game started off pretty even. Both teams had some good looks on goal. The first goal of the game came from Kevin Schade for Freiburg (13’). He is not only the fastest player in their history, but now has also scored their first 3. Liga goal in team history! Unfortunately, the goal was hideous. Just imagine a pool table where the cue ball hits every other ball before hitting the one you were aiming for, just in this case it was BVB players’ legs and then the back of the net.

The deficit didn’t stand for long though, as about 84 seconds later Marco Pašalić decided he would even up the score off a nice feed from Immanuel Pherai (14’). This goal was pretty.

Photo by Christian Kaspar-Bartke/Getty Images

Not two minutes later in the 16^th minute, Marco Pašalić was back at it again, only this time he was assisting on Timo Bornemann’s goal for the 2-1. Richmond Tachie wanted in on the action and scored off the corner, after Freiburg’s defenders gave him way too much space (22’).

After these eventful seven minutes, the game calmed down a bit. But not too much. It was pretty chippy with lots of whistles. SCF had some good shots on Luca Unbehaun, before inevitably scoring their second goal (34’). Schade.

The second half started with this as my first note: “Timo Bornemann, Ole Pohlmann, and Lennard Maloney watched too many hockey hits compilation videos.” Dortmund played a very north-south game with a heavy and high press. It was quite refreshing to watch. What was not refreshing was Kevin Schade almost scoring a hattrick. But he didn’t, so we good.

Anyway, Enrico Maaßen’s first substitute of the afternoon was Ted Tattermusch coming on for Timo Bornemann (58’). Immediately after, BVB scored the 4-2 off a nice play between Tobias Raschl, Immanuel Pherai, and Berkan Taz, the goal scorer (59’). The next substitute was unfortunately due to injury: Cebrails Makreckis came on for Marco Pašalić (64’). It didn’t look too bad, most likely a cramp from the high heat, since this boy was racing up and down and all around the pitch. Haymenn Bah-Traore also came on in place of Ole Pohlmann (64’).

The game got increasingly physical; there was little to no rhythm and players kept dropping with leg cramps. The final sub for our U23s was 16(!)-year-old Abdoulaye Kamara coming on for the injured Berkan Taz (87’). And he was so, so close to scoring a goal (94’)! Cebrails Makreckis put the lid on it, so to say, in the 95^th minute with the 5-2 off a Ted Tattermusch assist.

Leon Klußmann, Max Hippe, Albin Thaqi, and Kamal Bafounta-Ortega remained on the bench.

Overall, a very successful outing against the previously unbeaten SC Freiburg U23s. The Dortmund boys are now undefeated going back to November of 2020! Let’s keep it rolling, in my opinion.

Borussia Dortmund Frauen

Frauen Kreisliga

The first ever game played by the Dortmunder Frauen was a success!! They won 3-1 over TSV 1860 München on August 8^th. It’s nice when a team’s Wikipedia page can have a win under “first game” and not a 14-0 blowout loss.

Your goal scorers for this game were Ann-Katrin Lau (14’), Lea Rogge-Herper (39’), and Annika Herbig (51’).

Their second friendly against Niederrheinliga team SV Eintracht Solingen on August 15^th was a late 1-0 loss. This is not a bad thing! Very often teams lose games against other teams that are a few tiers above. Just think about the friendlies the Dortmund senior team plays. And the Dortmund women have only played together for three weeks.

The only negative news from this game is injury related. Annika Fälker had to be subbed off in the 23^rd minute due to a calf issue and goalie Stefanie Scheibe left the pitch in the 35^th with thigh problems.

Before these two friendlies, however, BVB aired a podcast episode about the women’s team featuring department head Svenja Schlenker, player Lisa Klemann, and coach Thomas Sulewski. There was some really neat information revealed about how the team came together and the differing perspectives on the whole process.

I transcribed and translated it into English. It is on Adam Darowski’s (@fussballtwit on Twitter) webpage, as he is the one who had the idea. Go check it out! Adam does a great job compiling stats throughout the season.

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Looking Ahead

Borussia Dortmund U17

The last game of the U17 NRW Ligapokal is on August 21^st against 1. FC Köln.

Borussia Dortmund U19

The U19s finish out the preliminary round of the U19 NRW Ligapokal with a game against Bayer 04 Leverkusen on August 22^nd.

Borussia Dortmund II

It’s back to the Rote Erde on August 21^st when they face 1. FC Saarbrücken. Saarbrücken is in fifth place with six points (2W-0D-1L) and a 4:2 (+2) goal differential.

Dortmund II sat briefly in first place over the weekend, but are now down to second place, which is still really, really good! They have seven points (2W-1D-0L) and a 8:4 (+4) goal differential. Fellow Neuaufsteiger FC Viktoria 1889 Berlin is in first place with nine points.

Borussia Dortmund Frauen

The last two friendlies before the Kreisliga starts are on the docket: August 18^th at VfL Kamen and August 22^nd at SVW Ahntal.

Sources: kicker.de, fussball.de, bvb.de