Party, Beer, Borussia
Winterbreak in the German football-season. Most football clubs use this break for a training camp in warmer countries. The team of Borussia Dortmund travelled to Marbella like the years before. In the Marbella Football Paradise Hotel conditions are perfect for intensive training work. Lots of BVB supporters followed the team like every year.
The first training took place on Friday afternoon. Despite the cold weather the team was welcomed by around 50 BVB supporters on the training ground. Klopp started with tactic and endurance training. In the end there was a practise game but most of the fans preferred to drink a warm or cold drink in the small bar on the trainings ground.
The Saturday schedule showed a training in the morning and a practise game in the afternoon. The game against SC Freiburg was one of the two highlights during the camp. Both teams played risky and so the game stayed unclear until the end. In the end Freiburg won with 2:1. Freiburg was more efficient in scoring goals and its defence was more stable. Juergen Klopp used the game to test all of his players. It seemed as if Alexander Frei was faster and more lively than in the first round. Sahin made a good game on Sebastian Kehl’s position. After the game Kehl missed the bus back to the hotel so Mr. Schneck had to take him home by car.
On Sunday many supporters used the opportunity to visit some new stadiums. A small group made the long way to Portugal to visit a third league match. All in all they travelled around 900 kilometres for the stadium and the country point. 6 supporters travelled to Sevilla to visit the match of Betis Sevilla against Malaga. The ticket prices of at minimum 40 € were surprisingly high for a common league match. The wonderful modern football. Short before the kick-off a crazy guy offered the opportunity to join the match for 30 €. He provided the entrance without control by the security. It was a hard-fought match in which Malaga was the luckier team and won with 2:1. The biggest group visited the home match of Marbella against Guadalajara. Ticket prices of at minimum 20 € were also very high. But after a short discussion the price was reduced to 10 €. Due to a heavy shower most guests left the pitch before the final whistle. They missed the 1:0 win of Marbella.
In the evening many fans were tired so only a small group celebrated all night long in the city centre of Marbella.
The next day only one training was planned. Kevin Prince Boateng was the most discussed topic on this day between the fans. The general opinion was that he is an ingenius football player and has a complicated character. After the training Klopp and Boateng answered the questions of the present reporters. The first Hertha BSC fans arrived on this day.Due to the cancelled afternoon training some fans made a trip to Gibraltar to visit the monkey’s rock and the town. Afterwards the fans split for the night program. Many fans wanted to make a trip to Alhambra the next day thus they spend a calm evening and night. The other half intensified the foreign relationships by beer and music in several bars in Marbella.
On Tuesday the weather became worse. At the morning training it was only cloudy but in the afternoon it rained all the time. Thus only a few supporters visited the training. Klopp switched the main focus from football techniques to tactics. But some fans should question their own behaviour towards the players. Drinking is ok but everybody should be aware of his own behaviour.
On Wednesday the weather was better and more fans joined the team on the ground. During the morning training the injured Kringe and Kehl arrived later and jogged some rounds near the team. In the night several hotel rooms held small and cheap parties until 4 o’clock.
On Tuesday the second test game against VFL Osnabrück took place. Dortmund started with Ziegler, Lee, Tinga, Zidan, Frei, Kovac, Boateng, Sahin, Owomoyela, Santana and Öztekin. Kruse, Subotic, Valdez, Rukavina, Schmelzer, Kullmann, Vrancic, Hornschuh and Arslan took their seats on the bench. In the beginning the game was nervous. The ball was played too often towards the middle, Lee tried to open the game over the flanks but with marginal success. Boateng was exerted but very inefficient. In the 23rd minute Boateng played an ingenius pass to Sahin and the young Turkish player scored. Sahin played well during the camp and it seems as if he is a real alternative for Sebastian Kehl. The game stayed confused. In the 41st minute Alexander Frei passed the ball to Owomoyela and he scored with a hard shot. For the second half-time Dortmund started with Subotic, Valdez, Schmelzer and Arslan for Lee, Frei, Kovac and Sahin. The game remained boring. Dortmund’s attacks were too complicated and not specific enough. In the 61st and 70th minute Klopp substituted Vrancic and Rukavina for Tinga and Owomoyela and Hornschuh and Kullmann for Boateng and Zidan. Kullmann headed the ball into the goal in the 78th minute, the score now being 3:0. During the whole game the defenders had no problems with the attackers of Osnabrück. In the end Osnabrück had only one chance by a free-kick.
After the game supporters and players came together for a big group picture. Unfortunately the “Forever Westfalenstadion”-Flag in the background was forbidden. This produced some arguing between club representatives and supporters. In the evening “The Unity” held an 8-years-birthday-party. Many fans and the manager of fanaffairs joined the party on the promenade in Marbella. It was a cheerful party with a lot of beer and Mallorca-party music.
On Friday and Saturday only one training sessions per day took place. On Friday the team played football tennis. The end saw a pleasant conservation between spectators and Teddy. Afterwards two cars went to Gibraltar. Other fans stayed at the hotel or took their flights home. On Saturday the team trained situations around the penalty box. It was a wonderful sunny day without any wind. The squad and most of the fans left Marbella during the afternoon and evening.
In the end:
Thanks to the present Managers of Fanaffairs who were reachable all the time. Thanks to Anke, Jassy and the Manager of Fanaffairs for the pictures.
And a personal thank you to the fans who took me along in their cars.
mrg, 27.01.09
