Borussia Dortmund’s junior teams both achieved highly satisfactory results in friendly fixtures at the weekend: the U19s rounded off their training camp by reaching the semi-finals of the 20th Sparkassen-Bundesliga-Cup in Schwäbisch Hall, while the U17s came away from their clash with TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, one of the top teams in the B-Junior Bundesliga Süd, with a deserved 2-2 draw.

“Overall, it was an intensive and good week,” said U19 head coach Mike Tullberg as he reflected on the days in Baden-Württemberg. He had made off-the-ball work the focal point for the training camp – and saw progress at the tournament, especially in the 4-0 victory against TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, the opponents in the DFB-Pokal first round. “We played very maturely there and learned our lessons from the first match and the video analysis,” explained Tullberg.

The team had started off by spurning a 2-0 advantage against Hamburger SV and had to settle for a 2-2 stalemate. In part because BVB had failed to convert clear opportunities; but also because the team had defended carelessly for both opposition goals. The Black & Yellows almost played the way Tullberg envisages against Hoffenheim: with concentration as they defended collectively and with consistency in their finishing. Paris Brunner, Raul König, Kjell Wätjen and Alex Niziolek scored the goals to reflect their superiority.

In the final group game against Eintracht Frankfurt, the team produced an energetic performance to turn a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 victory. “That impressed me, and that win saw us achieve our tournament objective of finishing top of the group,” explained Tullberg. In the semi-final against Hertha BSC, they paid the price for the intense training workload over the past few days. “We were the clearly superior team in the first half and should have taken the lead. The goal for 1-0 came from a corner kick that was not defended well by us; after that, we put all our eggs in one basket and conceded two goals on the counter,” said Tullberg in summary of the 3-0 defeat.

“The boys have primarily defined themselves through possession in the past. They must learn and understand that we can only be successful as a team if we work together and with the required seriousness off the ball and defend our goal,” declared Tullberg, who signalled the end of the first phase of pre-season following the tournament in Schwäbisch Hall. Friday will mark the start of the second phase, which will include a friendly fixture against VfL Wolfsburg on Sunday (15:00 CET, NLZ Brackel). The Bundesliga season will get under way against Bayer Leverkusen on Sunday 13 August.

Marco Lehmann very satisfied with the friendlies

The U17s followed up their 6-0 victory over Darmstadt 98 with a 2-2 draw against TSG 1899 Hoffenheim. “A very good friendly against a strong opponent,” reflected coach Marco Lehmann. He particularly liked the collective defensive work, which the emphasis had been placed on in the first days of training. “We did not allow Hoffenheim a single chance from open play,” Lehmann explained. Both goals from the visitors came from set-pieces: the first goal to make it 1-1 came from a direct free kick and the goal that made it 2-1 was headed home following a corner.

Fritz Fleck had scored a stunning curling effort to open the scoring at 1-0, with Diego Ngambia Dzonga later netting a highly deserved leveller in the 80th minute following a spell of pressure. “The final half-hour was really good from our side,” said a delighted Marco Lehmann. The team also benefited from the dynamism and momentum of substitutes Tim Degener and Justin Hoy.

The full squad will head for the training camp in Heilbronn on Tuesday, which will conclude with their participation in the “Bundesliga Cup” tournament.

(wiwi)