The Borussia Dortmund U23s will welcome SV Sandhausen to the Rote Erde for a 3. Liga match on Saturday (14:00 CET). It will be the first meeting between the two teams in more than 13 years.

One must delve deep into the archives to find the most recent encounter between the Dortmund U23s and SV Sandhausen. Their only meeting to date took place at the Strobelallee on 4 April 2010. That day, a BVB team managed by Theo Schneider beat SVS 2-1 in front of 930 spectators. The BVB officials will be hoping for a similar story this Saturday.

Sandhausen were relegated from the 2. Bundesliga in the summer. Danny Galm took over the coaching reins ahead of the new season but could not reverse the Kurpfalz outfit’s fortunes. The Southern Germans currently sit in 11th place with 16 points. With the goal of immediate promotion under threat, the club reacted at the start of the week: Galm was released and Jens Keller, who has Bundesliga experience (Schalke and Stuttgart), took over.

That makes the upcoming opposition something of an unknown quantity for their first game under the new coach. Dortmund boss Jan Zimmermann remarked: “It is certainly difficult to change fundamental things in such a short space of time. But we have of course looked at how Jens Keller has played football at his previous clubs.”

However the U23s do not want to let themselves be guided by the opponent too much, but rather show their own strengths. And BVB will head into the game with a healthy dose of self-confidence following their comfortable 3-1 victory in Mannheim last Friday. The coach had promised three days off in the event of a win – and of course kept his word: Zimmermann did not call his players in for the first training session of the week until Tuesday.

A day later, the coach was delighted with the strong performances from Hendry Blank and Samuel Bamba, who were both in the starting XI for the U19s for their Youth League triumph in Newcastle (2-1). Blank shone defensively, while Bamba stood out offensively by notching a goal and an assist. Both could be back in action for the U23s on Saturday.

Dortmund’s young talents want to build on their remarkable record so far of 19 points from the first 12 games. “One can be satisfied with the points tally, even if it could have been two or three more,” was Zimmermann’s verdict with almost a third of the season played. “The way we play has developed.” In addition, the team is getting better and better at delivering consistently good performances and results. They have been rewarded with their current position of fourth in the table and will be aiming for their next successful result against Sandhausen.
Daniel Mertens