Match Report
BVB suffer first defeat of preseason in Thailand
BVB's brief time in Thailand came to an end with their third friendly of the current preseason preparations, after which the team travelled on to Japan. The opponents from the north of Bangkok, champions of the Thai Premier League in 2021, were to be the first friendly opponents who play at a professional level. The match was delayed by 15 minutes due to heavy rain in the run-up to kick-off.
Once the game got underway at the BG Stadium, which was sold out with 15,000 spectators, the hosts got off to the better start. After two minutes, attacker Melvyn Lorenzen was able to get off a shot on the turn from five metres out, but Alex Meyer in the BVB goal was not troubled. Shortly afterwards, the Black & Yellows started to find their feet against the Thai League Cup winners and created their first half-chances through the lively Paris Brunner and Karim Adeyemi.
But BGPU suddenly struck in the midst of BVB's first real phase of dominance: a long ball over the top landed at the feet of Lorenzen, who deftly stepped inside of the backtracking Julian Ryerson and gave Meyer no chance with his finish in the one-on-one (15). Borussia immediately took control of the game again and had a great chance to equalise through Adeyemi. However, the winger failed to apply the finishing touch when he latched onto a Brandt pass from a prime position (18).
Thereafter, the Black & Yellows struggled to create any compelling chances. Instead it was Pathum who had the final say in the first half: Lorenzen was again the initiator, having been given too much space on the right wing. His cross was headed into the back of the net by the wide-open Teerasil Dangda just in front of Meyer (44).
In the second half, only Paris Brunner remained on the pitch for BVB, with players from the U23 and U19 squads filling the other ten positions. In attack, Sebastien Haller took over from Youssoufa Moukoko. Although Dortmund's play became a little more precise, this did not result in more penetration. Julian Hettwer took a shot from an acute angle in the 50th minute and Sebastien Haller tried from distance a little later - both efforts were unsuccessful.
The cool-headed hosts were more clinical. Jaroensak Wonggorn finished off a counter-attack in the 65th minute to put the result beyond doubt. Wonggorn popped up again to bring the final score to 4-0 when he beat keeper Marcel Lotka with a shot into the far corner two minutes before the end (88'). A 4-0 defeat for Dortmund was of course disappointing, but it served as a demonstration for the areas BVB need to work on in the remaining weeks of preseason.
The Black & Yellow travelling party leave Thailand tonight and will set up camp in Osaka, Japan, on Monday. Nuri Sahin's team will be hoping for a better result there when they play their next friendly match against Cerezo Osaka on Wednesday 24 July (kick-off 12:15 CEST/19:15 local time).
BVB first-half: Meyer – Ryerson, Süle, Lührs, Rothe – Azhil, Nmecha, Brandt (C) – Adeyemi, Moukoko, Brunner
BVB second-half: Lotka – Jessen, Meiser, Benkara, Kabar – Roggow, Kamara, Wätjen – Hettwer, Haller (C), Brunner
Goals: 1-0 Lorenzen (15), 2-0 Dangda (44), 3-0 Wonggorn (65), 4-0 Wonggorn (88)
David Steinkuhl
