U23s lose friendly to Hansa Rostock | OneFootball

Coach Jan Zimmermann's U23 team have been at their training camp in Belek, Türkiye preparing for the second half of the third-division season for the past five days. The reserves played their first friendly fixture on Saturday. The Black & Yellows lost 3-1 to second-tier Hansa Rostock.

The Borussia players completed their toughest sessions to date on Thursday. Intensive work had already been conducted in the morning, before they really got down to business in the afternoon. A "football biathlon" and a 4v4 were on the agenda. The biathlon involved running quick laps, taking shots at small goals and subsequently completing punishment laps in the event of missed shots. The two teams delivered an exciting contest. After almost two hours, Michael Eberwein, Mario Suver, Danylo Krevsun and Charles Herrmann had their noses narrowly in front – two players who are older than 23 years of age and two youngsters. The workload was a little dialled down on Friday and coach Jan Zimmermann gave the afternoon off. The players used the time to relax and recover – whether it was on the beach or in their rooms.

The first acid test for the Black & Yellows came in a friendly against Hansa Rostock on Saturday afternoon. Coach Zimmermann gave starts to the three U19 players Krevsun, Herrmann and Julian Rijkhoff. Silas Ostrzinski began between the sticks and stood in for Marcel Lotka, who is with the first team in Marbella, in the opening 45 minutes. The centre-back partnership consisted of Suver and Franz Pfanne, who were the only ones to play the full 90 minutes. Patrick Göbel played at right-back, with Lion Semic on the left. Franz Roggow, Abdoulaye Kamara and Krevsun lined up in midfield, with Herrmann, Rijkhoff and Falko Michel in attack. The young team gave a good account of themselves and had their best chance of the first half through Herrmann. At the back, they defended with focus and did not allow Hansa any chances. Herrmann had to go off shortly before the break – a precautionary measure. He was replaced by top striker Julian Hettwer.

Coach Zimmermann is satisfied

Zimmermann made numerous changes for the second half. Tiago Estevao played in goal, Prince Aning on the left of defence and Ted Tattermusch on the right. Ayman Azhil, Rafael Lubach and Eberwein lined up in the midfield, with Rodney Elongo-Yombo, Justin Buttler and Hettwer forming the attack. BVB quickly went 1-0 down in the second half and had to chase the game. But it was Rostock who scored the next goal. The U23s were not able to clear the ball properly in their own box prior to the goal for 2-0. The Black & Yellows then managed to pull it back to 2-1 after a lovely piece of link-up played that was initiated by Moses Otuali, who had come off the bench a short while earlier and played a lovely pass to Hettwer, who lobbed the keeper. The Black & Yellows then conceded another unlucky goal in the closing seconds and the game ended in a 3-1 loss.

Nonetheless, coach Jan Zimmermann drew a positive conclusion: "The result always plays a role, and we would've liked to get a positive result. Still, the conclusion is good. All the players were involved and we played a good game. It was very good in the first half. We didn't give away any chances and could have gone 1-0 up ourselves. We had more problems in the second half and let in two goals by taking too many risks in the build-up. However, I still think we also consistently had good situations in this half, found great footballing solutions, and were aggressive and good in the challenges. It's good for us to see who is at what level. We're on the right track; the boys are playing well. I'm also very pleased with their conduct after the setback when they kept going."

The team will have the day off on Sunday, before resuming intensive work at the start of week. They will then travel back to Dortmund on Wednesday evening.

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