Match Preview: Dortmund Travel Across The Street to Take On VfL Bochum in the DFB Pokal

Tomorrow, Borussia Dortmund will look to extend their winning streak in the New Year to five games as they take on VfL Bochum in the Round of 16 of the DFB Pokal.

Dortmund are in fine offensive form, having scored 13 goals since the restart, and will be keen to score even more tomorrow. Fortunately for Dortmund, every player but Adeyemi should be available as the striker picked up a red card against Hannover in the round of 32. Funny enough, Adeyemi also earned his fifth yellow of the season against Freiburg on the weekend and will miss this weekend’s game against Bremen as well.

Bochum, on the other hand, are not going through the same purple patch as their neighbors. While the side just made headlines with a convincing 5-2 win against Hoffenheim, who proceeded to fire Andre Breitenreiter, they also lost 5-2 to Mainz the week prior. Aside from this result, Bochum find themselves with two wins and two losses in 2023. Over the course of the season, they’ve hardly looked any better, with the worst defense and the second worst goal difference in the top flight this season. Still, it’s a cup game in Germany and, as Werder Bremen remind us every few years, anything can happen.

Player to Watch: Christopher Antwi-Adjej

Photo by Frederic Scheidemann/Getty Images

There aren’t many jaw-dropping stars to watch on this Bochum team. Their top scorer, Philip Hofmann, is on a modest seven goals, and they have tied the record for the oldest starting lineup in the Bundesliga (average age of 31.5 years old). Of their geriatric lineup, the biggest threat to Dortmund is Christopher Antwi-Adjej. Antwi-Adjej has tallied two goals and four assists in Bochum’s past six games. This includes a hat-trick of assists against Hoffenheim over the weekend. He was electric on the left side and continued to beat two of Hoffenheim’s only redeeming players: Christoph Baumgartner and Ozan Kabak. He’ll be looking to repeat his success against Dortmund’s right side.

Honorable Mention: Keven Schlotterbeck.

While he’s definitely not one to watch, Nico’s older brother could also make an appearance this game. He recently went on loan to Bochum and has started in 3 of Bochum’s last four games. We could see some sibling vs. sibling action tomorrow.

Predicted Lineup

We should expect to see some rotation tomorrow in preparation for Dortmund’s busy week coming up. I’m expected Moukoko as the young forward will be eager for game time following Haller’s return. Along side him I’m hoping we see Reyna get the start with Malen on the other side. In midfield, we’ll probably see Bellingham play alongside Brandt and (HOPEFULLY) Dahoud. The defense will Rapha, Hummels, Sule, and Ryerson. In goal we’ll see Kobel as we have the last 2 DFB Pokal Games.

Predicted Score:

We’re in good form. Check. Everyone is excited to watch the team play. Check. We’re scoring a ton of goals. Check. We’re playing against one of the worst teams in the league. Check. It’s the round of 16 in the DFB Pokal. Check.

I’m predicting a 3-1 loss.

Your Thoughts

Let me know your predictions, thoughts, concerns, favorite colors, and whatever else you want to tell us in the comments below!