The NRW-Ligapokal carries on while the DFB Junioren Pokal begins. The U23s had their first english week and the women’s preperation is winding down. It was a busy week for our bees. Read along and please leave your comments below.

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Borussia Dortmund U17

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

The U17s won the NRW-Ligapokal semifinal on August 28^th against SC Preußen Münster by a score of 5-2. The Dortmund goals came from a Raul König hattrick (18’, 20’, 50’), Suat Fajic (68’), and Alex Niziolek (74’).

Borussia Dortmund U19

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

Finally a non-friendly game! The U19s played the first round of the DFB Junioren Pokal on August 29^th at FC Viktoria 1889 Berlin. It was a successful 4-1 win for the boys in black and yellow.

None other than Bradley Fink opened the scoring in the 11^th minute. Julian Rijkhoff followed up with a goal of his own (34’). After setting up a goal, Samuel Bamba decided to score one of his own (43’). Our U19s went into halftime up 3-0.

Viktoria was able to get one back in the 56^th minute. Bekir El-Zein was subbed on for Rijkhoff (56’). Bamba scored his second of the game in the 69^th minute. He was subbed off shortly after for Ayukayoh Mengot (71’). The final two subs for BVB were Tekin Gencoglu for Vasco Walz (87’) and Noah Mrosek for Lion Semić (90’).

Borussia Dortmund II (U23)

3. Liga

In what was Steffen Tigges’ homecoming, Dortmund II played one of their more sloppy appearances on August 25^th in their visit to VfL Osnabrück.

Antonios Papadopoulos was called back up to the senior team, so he was dropped from the starting lineup for this game. Berkan Taz came in; Franz Pfanne shifted back into the defense.

Honestly, Dortmund playing in yellow and Osnabrück in purple just made this look like a Minnesota Vikings intrasquad scrimmage. Some of the hits and checks delivered during this game more closely resembled ice hockey though. Ansgar Knauff (8’) and Immanuel Pherai (25’) got yellows for this.

Anyway, the game started off pretty even: some back and forth action with nothing too dangerous. It got dangerous though when Luca Unbehaun made a huge mistake while receiving a back pass from one of his defenders. Last game it went good, but this time his emergency dribble was picked up by an Osnabrück forward and ended up in the back of the net. In my opinion, goalies should never play the ball. (Or puck. Looking at you, Carter Hart.)

Immanuel Pherai nearly got the tying goal in the 29^th minute, but it was saved on the goal line. After Dortmund and Osnabrück both should have had penalty kicks, Dortmund was finally awarded one in the 39^th minute after a foul on Richmond Tachie. Tobias Raschl’s shot was saved. And so, Dortmund entered the second half down 1-0.

Photo by Christof Koepsel/Getty Images

The second half started off like the first: up and down the field with some chances. Except this time, our U23s were able to score the first goal. Tachie played a nice ball to Taz, who took advantage of some sloppy play by the VfL defenders (53’).

The first substitution of the game was unfortunately injury related: Kolbeinn Finnsson came on for Franz Pfanne (58’). Finnsson slotted into the back three and made some nice tackles. It seemed as though the VfL forward core was getting stronger and stronger, but Unbehaun was making up for his previous flub.

And then Lennard Maloney received a straight red (69’). He was the last man and committed a soft foul. But hey, if the ref calls it, it goes. The ensuing free kick very, very nearly went in, but luckily hit aluminum.

Two more subs by Enrico Maaßen were made in the 72^nd minute: Haymenn Bah-Traore came on for Taz and Abdoulaye Kamara for Tachie. These defensive subs did little to keep Osnabrück from scoring the 2-1 in the 74^th minute.

But that’s okay because Ulrich Taffertshofer received a second yellow and so the game was back to evens. Not much was going though as Osnabrück understandably tried to park the bus. Maaßen made two more subs with Cebrails Makreckis and Ole Pohlmann coming on for Marco Pašalić and Knauff.

Stefan Drljača, Albin Thaqi, Timo Bornemann, and Ted Tattermusch sat on the bench.

This was BVB II’s first loss in 31 games, dating back to the end of November 2020. All good things must come to an end.

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The second game this week was a Ruhrpottderby. Dortmund II faced MSV Duisburg on August 29^th in the Rote Erde. This was also a homecoming for Alaa Bakir, who left Dortmund after eight years this summer. Lennard Maloney is suspended for two matches after his red card, so Antonios Papadopoulos came in. Marco Hober, Moritz Broschinski, and Florian Krebs remain injured.

The first shots on goal were courtesy of Dortmund II; an encouraging start after the last game where it all seemed to fall apart. Luca Unbehaun had his first save after 10 minutes. On the other hand, BVB has had three corners in the first 15 minutes.

The pace of this game was slower than in previous games, which is most likely due to the pouring rain and both teams’ fatigue. The final pass necessary for shots on goal seemed to evade both. Evidence of this was Marco Pašalić missing the biggest shot that I’d ever seen from him (20’). Overall though, Dortmund was bringing more to the table and were more threatening.

The referee was letting them play, as he let a lot of fouls go, which was in Dortmund’s favor. Unbehaun’s next save came in the 26^th minute and it was a big one. Duisburg came right back though and got the first goal, against the run of play, in the 28^th minute. It was a nice play by the Duisburger, aided a bit by a Dortmund defensive lapse.

Pašalić nearly gets it back with a free kick (31’). But that’s okay because Steffen Tigges heads a Tobias Raschl - Berkan Taz pass off the corner into goal (32’)! Pašalić almost had a goal, again, when he sent a hard shot into MSV’s goalie and it almost rolled over the goal line (39’).

Photo by Christof Koepsel/Getty Images

The second half started with a 1-1 score. That didn’t last long as Taz scored the 2-1 off a nice give-and-go with Richmond Tachie (51’). Taz then decided one assist isn’t enough and assisted on Tigges’ second goal (57’). The Duisburg defense did not look good on that one.

Papadopoulos got a little heated over Duisburg players continuously whining for the ref to call a foul and received a yellow card (60’). Enrico Maaßen’s first subs of the afternoon were: Cebrails Makreckis for Pašalić (injury) and Ole Pohlmann for Ansgar Knauff (64’). Nothing too noteworthy happened before Maaßen subbed again: Ted Tattermusch and Timo Bornemann for Tigges and Tachie (72’). The final Dortmund sub was Abdoulaye Kamara for Raschl (81‘).

The game got a bit lifeless as Dortmund just wanted to close the game out and Duisburg was seemingly out of options. That didn’t stop Immanuel Pherai from serving up Bornemann’s goal for the 4-1 in the 87^th minute. Berkan Taz contributed on this goal as well.

Stefan Drljača, Haymenn Bah-Traore, Kolbeinn Finnsson, and Albin Thaqi remained on the bench. The game was a good response to the Osnabrück loss. Let’s start a new streak.

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In some late transfer news, Maximilian Hippe has left Borussia Dortmund for fellow 3. Liga team, 1. FC Kaiserslautern. He had joined BVB in July 2019 and appeared in 45 games. This season he has only one appearance: as a sub in the 78th minute in the U23s first game. Since then he has not been on the game day roster.

Borussia Dortmund Frauen

Frauen Kreisliga

The ladies won their friendly at Sportfreunde Siegen II 3-0 on August 28^th. Thomas Sulewski only had 11 players for this game due to injuries and prior commitments, so this game was a real fitness test for the players.

The first half was ugly, as many players were playing in new positions and the communication was lacking. After a halftime speech by Sulewski, it got better. Luisa Bergmann got the first goal off a give-and-go with Hannah Goosmann (62’). To no one’s surprise, the next two goals came from Ann-Kathrin Lau: the first off a pass from Ana Zabell (70’); the second from Virginia Glänzer (85’).

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Looking Ahead

Borussia Dortmund U17

The NRW-Ligapokal U17 final will take place next weekend against a TBA opponent. This could be subject to change, as Dortmund asked to move the game to a later date, as the majority of their team got called up to the respective youth national teams.

The U17’s first non-friendly game in almost a year will take place on September 11^th where they will travel to DSC Arminia Bielefeld.

Borussia Dortmund U19

The U19s will play their NRW-Ligapokal semifinal against Rot-Weiss Essen on September 5^th. Maybe. Again, the U19s will be missing a lot of players due to youth national team call ups and have asked to move the game.

They will start their Bundesliga campaign on September 11^th at Rot-Weiß Oberhausen.

Borussia Dortmund II

The next U23 game is on September 5^th at TSV Havelse. They currently sit in last place with zero points (0W-0D-5L) and a 2:12 (-10) goal differential. Havelse does have a game in hand as they play Monday evening, but either way, they’re in last place.

Dortmund II climbed back into third after dropping to ninth after their loss. BVB have 11 points (3-2-1) and a 13:7 (+6) goal differential. 1. FC Magdeburg and FC Viktoria 1889 Berlin tied for first place with 13 points.

Borussia Dortmund Frauen

There is one friendly left before the Kreispokal- and Kreisligasaison begin. Dortmund will travel to Adler Osterfeld on September 4^th.

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