The Borussia U19s have reached the final of the German A-Junior Championship for the third season in succession. Captain Nnamdi Collins & Co. lost the second leg of their semi-final against Hertha BSC by a 1-0 scoreline but their 4-0 victory in the first leg ultimately saw them through.

As a result, there will be a repeat of the 2009 final at the Bruchwegstadion in Mainz on Sunday (23 April, kick-off 11:00 CET, live on Sky). The men from Rhenish-Hesse beat 1. FC Cologne in the other semi-final (1-0, 0-0). Their coach Benjamin Hoffmann, who led the BVB U19s to the title in 2017 and 2019 before moving to Mainz in summer 2019, watched the Hertha game from the stands at the Youth Stadium. “Borussia will perform very differently in the final,” Hoffmann predicted.

The reality was that coach Mike Tullberg’s team could not build on the highly focused and disciplined team performance that had set BVB apart in Berlin. The Black & Yellows were passive for long stretches, allowed the opposition too much space and did not always take decisive action in defence either. Goalkeeper Marian Kirsch was called into action on several occasions and helped to prevent an unpleasant surprise. 

“It was clear that Hertha would take big risks and go all out. I must congratulate the lads. Nobody expected before the season that we would qualify for a final. It’s extraordinary and a great thing that we ultimately come away with a 4-1 victory against one of the best junior teams in Germany,” remarked a satisfied Mike Tullberg. The Berlin outfit displayed their attacking qualities in the first half in particular – and gave themselves hope when young pro Ibrahim Maza opened the scoring to make it 1-0 early on. 

The goal was created by a solo run from Julian Eitschberger and a ball across the box from Dominik Schickersinsky. Hertha launched attack after attack on Marian Kirsch, who turned the ball over the crossbar following a dangerous curling effort from Lukas Michelbrink in the 23rd minute. “We only defended in the opening stages and allowed the opposition many set-pieces. That wasn’t good,” bemoaned Lars Ricken, the director of the BVB Youth Performance Centre. 

Paris Brunner strikes the post

It was only in the 23rd minute that the Black & Yellows got their first glimpse of the opposition box, and created their first chance shortly afterwards with a flowing attacking move. Paris Brunner could only strike the left upright with a shot from the edge of the box, however. Unfortunate. Julian Rijkhoff, who had scored all four BVB goals in the first leg, was monitored closely by the Hertha players and was only occasionally played into promising positions by his midfield team-mates. “We should’ve been cleverer and finished off our counter-attacks better,” remarked Tullberg.

He reacted at the break. Danylo Krevsun and Paris Brunner stayed in the changing rooms, with Rafael Lubach and Cole Campbell brought on in their stead. Borussia subsequently increased their control over the game, which resembled last year’s semi-final when BVB won the first leg 5-1 away to Schalke 04 and sought to manage their comfortable lead as safely as possible in the second leg, which also ended in a 1-0 defeat. “What was important is that we didn’t concede a second goal. Otherwise we could have really been in trouble again,” Lars Ricken said.

Everything under control in the second half

BVB made little impact going forward. The exception was in the 54th minute when Hertha goalie Tim Goller intercepted a ball from Julian Rijkhoff but played it straight to the feet of Vasco Walz, who could not make the chance count. It was otherwise an uneventful match. It was only in the closing stages that the Berlin side looked lively going forward again. They were once again denied by the alert Marian Kirsch, who made a spectacular save to deny Maza in the 83rd minute.

“In the end, it was a clear outcome for Dortmund,” said Guido Streichsbier, the coach of the Germany U19 national team, who is expecting an open final: “There will be a lot of quality on the pitch on both sides.” That’s how it was in 2009, when Mario Götze pulled the strings on the pitch for BVB and Thomas Tuchel coached their opponents to a 2-1 victory. The objective will be to avoid a repeat of that result on Sunday.

U19s: Kirsch – Cisse (Korzynietz, 90+2), Collins, Blank, Rothe – Walz, Ludwig – Bamba (Wätjen, 89), Krevsun (Lubach, 46), Brunner (Campbell, 46) – Rijkhoff (Onofrietti, 83)

(wiwi)