U19 lose to Unterhaching despite optimal chances

The Borussia Dortmund U19s ended the first half of main round Group D in the DFB-Nachwuchsliga with a surprising 2-0 home defeat against SpVgg Unterhaching.

The Black & Yellows largely failed to make the most of their clear chances, particularly in the first half-hour. At the other end, they provided a helping hand for both the opening goal through Jason Eckl (29) and the goal that made it 2-0 (Nicolas Böhnke, 77). "We're learning a lot of hard lessons. Unterhaching created chances out of nothing and we let them do it," explained Mike Tullberg.

In the first half-hour, BVB produced their best footballing performance to date in the U19 Nachwuchsliga. The team linked up well, opened up the game cleverly from the back and caused their opponents some major problems. The first chance to score fell to Taycan Etcibasi – who lined up in attack alongside Pharell Kegni and Mathis Albert – but he fired the ball over the crossbar from an optimal position (4). Borussia continued to create chances almost by the minute: Mathis Albert hit the upright from an unmarked position (8), Nick Cherny struck the underside of the crossbar (12) and Elias Benkara hit the woodwork again with a header from Cherny's corner (23).

"We should have led 3-0 after that start. The boys played some really good football at times, but they lacked decisiveness and conviction with their finishing," said Tullberg. It was a completely different story for Unterhaching, who earned praise from the BVB coach: "They're a composed team which almost entirely consists of players from the older year group and which did a great job. Unfortunately, we primarily defined ourselves through possession once again and didn't defend well."

Against the league leaders at Stadion Rote Erde

The visitors fired their first warning shot on the 25-minute mark, with goalkeeper Robin Lisewski making a save with his foot to deny Cornelius Pfeiffer and stop it from becoming 1-0. Jason Eckl put the away team 1-0 ahead shortly afterwards following a mistake in the BVB defence. The Black & Yellows struggled to get back into the game after going behind. They tried hard, fought tirelessly and also struck the woodwork again in the second half, but Unterhaching kept a cool head at all times and made further attacking inroads thanks to their direct switch play.

"We show a lot of talent on the pitch, but it will be difficult to achieve good results against physically superior opponents in this league with our young team,” said Mike Tullberg after the first half of the main round, which BVB finished third in the table behind Leipzig (12 points) and Karlsruher SC (10) with seven points.

League leaders Leipzig are their next opponents on Sunday 9 March (11:00 CET) at Stadion Rote Erde.

U19s: Lisewski – Rashidi, Benkara, Reggiani (Mahjoubi, 56), Feddersen – Kaba – Cherny, Inacio – Etcibasi (Niziolek, 73), Kegni, Albert
(wiwi)