Borussia Dortmund against Eintracht Frankfurt: Preview
Borussia Dortmund look to splash doubts of a lack of good form and are setting their sights on Frankfurt. Dortmund fell last weekend 1-4 against a strong Suttgart side away from home. The Westfalen return home and will have the support of 70,000 or more fans rooting for them for the clash against Frankfurt on Sunday (17.30).
Dortmund will have Mohamad Zidan back in the squad and it appears that Sven Bender is fit. Bender will be a game time decision, but in training today he had no pain from an earlier complication from the knee. Dortmund will be missing star midfielder Kuba who is suffering from back problems. Felipe Santana is still making a recovery from a bone bruise but the prognosis is looking better.
Frankfurt have a strew of their own players missing but much of their starting eleven has not been badly effected. Big Star missing from Frankfurt is the Greek forward Amanatidis. Dortmund can cushion their lead on Frankfurt in a European place with a win. Frankfurt is eight points behind Dortmund and a win would see Dortmund move eleven points clear of Frankfurt. Dortmund currently sit fourth in the table on 36 points and are looking ambitiously to play European football this year.
Possible Lineups:
Borussia Dortmund: Ziegler - Owomoyela, Subotic, Hummels, Schmelzer - Bender (Santana), Sahin - Valdez, Zidan, Großkreutz - Barrios.
Bench: Höttecke - Dede, Hünemeier, Santana, Hajnal, Götze, Ginczek, Stiepermann.
Questionable: Bender, Barrios, Santana.
Missing: Weidenfeller, Kuba, Kehl, Tinga, Feulner, Rangelov, Öztekin.
Eintracht Frankfurt: Nikolov - Franz, Russ, Chris, Spycher - Teber - Ochs, Meier, Liberopoulos, Köhler - Altintop.
Bench: Fährmann - Jung, Heller, Tsoumou, Caio, Toski, Titsch-Rivero
Questionable: Chris, Teber.
Missing: Petkovic, Vasoski, Bajramovic, Korkmaz, Clark, Fenin, Amanatidis, Schwegler, Tosun, Alvarez.
Referee: Unknown
Yellow Card Tally: Barrios, Sahin, Valdez, Schmelzer (all 4) - Teber (9), Ochs (4).
Attendance: 70,000(unofficial number)
Bender Questionable against Frankfurt, Champion Zidan returns to squad
Sven Bender is questionable for this weekends clash with Eintracht Frankfurt. The U-19 European Champion is recovering from inflammation in his knee. Bender is showing signs of good recovery and could make his way back on the pitch for Dortmund this weekend. Bender has started six times in a row for BVB, and all six times have resulted in a win. Bender was absent from last weekends clash with VfB Stuttgart and the improvisation didn't work well. Hummels was out of his element in the defensive midfield position and Hummels replacement Santana had an own goal. Dortmund will be hoping for a return of the young star in order to lay to rest any questions of a possible slip in form for BVB.
Mohamad Zidan is returning a champion form the Africa Cup. Dortmund front office will be honoring Zidan for the accomplishment when he returns from his home country Egypt. Zidan is expected to report for team training on Thursday and will be ready and fit for this weekends game. Dortmund is welcoming the return of their play maker as the injury list grows. Still questionable for this weekend are Santana and Kuba.
More Injury Worries
Borussia Dortmund already have their fair share in injury problems, but there is to be another two added.
Jakub "Kuba" Blaszczykowsi limped off after only 20 minutes of the first half against Stuttgart. Kuba has been suffering a groin injury since the Koln game but today proved to be too much. It is unclear how long he will be unavailable for.
Felipe Santana managed to play the whole match against Stuttgart after injuring his ankle the same morning. It looks as though he will be given some time to recover.
My thoughts on season 2008/09
Wow, what a ride? A very interesting season full of highs and lows along the way. A massive yellow and black roller coaster!!!
So now the dissapointment of Black Saturday has passed somewhat I thought I'd put my thoughts of the season into words.
Firstly, If someone had offered me sixth place at the start of the season and would have bitten their hand off. To have come from such a pitiful season last time round to be challenging for Europe has been an excellent turn around and Jürgen Klopp and his staff deserves huge credit for that. It is also strange that I am feeling so gutted because of the last weekend of the season. It feels like it has been a waste, but coming from nowhere to where we finished bodes well for next season.
There have been some great performances on the pitch too. I was particularly impressed with our three young centre backs, Hummels, Subotic and Santana. Clean sheets and unbeaten runs have been a real bonus given the inexperience at the back. Weide ahs been great all season, he has been one of the most consistent performers and hopefully he might get some international recognition next season. Nelson Valdez had a great end to the season, he's obviously a confidence player and when he is on top of his game he is a great asset to the squad. There have been some good work from midfield too this year and the settled look that we had in the final run in has helped a lot. Sahin has had a good season and will hopefully 'train on' next year.
We've had a great season and it shows the quality of the Bundesliga that the number of points we got would normally have given us European football. In half the years we would have been in a champions league position!!! Unbeaten at home all season, only five defeats on the road. So next season we really have something to look forward to. Hopefully we we be contenders all season long and who knows maybe even challenging for the title.
Favourite moment of the season: Being on the Südtribüne for the 6-0 against Bielefeld.
Player of the Season: Roman Weidenfeller
Young Player of the Season: Neven Subotic
Worst moment of the season: 4-1 Hoffenheim matchday 5
2008/09 Thanks for the memories BVB
Author : Rinteln Dortmunder Nr.1
Links
Recent Posts
- Kuba out for 2 weeks
- Adios .. Auf Wiedersehen , Farewell – Valdez exits BVB
- Lech Poznan to BVB : Signed, sealed, delivered hes yours – Robert Lewandowski signed at last
- Срећно! , Buena suerte! , Viel Glück! and Good Luck at WC 2010 South Africa
- an insight behind scenes of supporting a club that’s close to your heart yet , far far away
