A brilliant half doesn't make an ensemble
A pretty good job in the first 45 minutes which provided a respectable lead against the best team in Germany wasn't enough to ensure a win against the opponent from the south. In the end, we have rather lost 2 points than having won one.
Pre-Match Issues
Looking at the table, Borussia's start has been a big deal so far: 3 points against Leverkusen, among the top five and good assessment from all the critics. Ignoring that, you'll find some major issues. First of all, there was Leonardo Dedé's heavy injury, making him stand away until February 2009. Then there has been the accomplished "Petric-Deal", which included a package offered by HSV (Hamburg) of around 5 million Euros and Mohamed Zidan in exchange for Mladen Petric (see our article on that). So there was lots of discussion present at Strobelallee this week.
The opponent coming from Munich had required some troubleshooting as well. Having managed a draw only against Hamburg, the team didn't meet the expectations. In addition, they suffered from injuries in all parts of the team, especially from those of Ribéry and Toni. However, the pressure was set on Munich since two matches without any win is hardly acceptable.
First half
The first half would suit an optimal forecast of the season for all Dortmunders: The team pushed straight forward, with Mohamed Zidan having a chance just after 2 minutes when his shot was blocked by Van Buyten. But there was no time to worry. Just 7 minutes later; it was Kuba who fired an amazing and precise shot from 16 metres into the net after being fed by Valdez. Just lovely what the Polish international is delivering in Dortmund at the moment!
If you think things couldn't be better, just change your views. Mark van Bommel demonstrated his business as usual: Just minutes after his yellow card, he dared to slap Tamas Hajnal without any reason - and received his second yellow card which made him leave the pitch (22'). Munich couldn't just answer to this foolish situation, but we couldn't either which means that nothing really happened in the first half. On the other hand, one could say that Borussia took over the command of the match by providing a strong defence and a decent offence. And still there was a good chance to extend the lead to a 2:0 just shortly before half-time. Valdez intercepted a pass on the left, the ball got to Zidan. He nicely served Valdez again and the Paraguayan attacker's shot was just blocked by Lucio - a 2:0 just would have been a really massive asset!
What's there to say after 45 minutes? That was probably one of the best first halfs of the past years in terms of attractive and fast football. Moreover, the defence was largely secure, but yet not perfect since corners and free-kicks were not fully resolved by our defenders. But still, there is a substantial improvement from last year visible.
Second Half:
But where was all the power when Referee Fandel started the second half? No more pressing, no more fast football and, most important, no more security by the defence. Especially Tim Borowski managed to raise problems, but his first try was unsuccessful (47'). Munich was extremely dangerous when it came to corner kicks: Van Buyten was served by Kroos twice and his tries marginally missed the goal. But still Muncich was not dominating the match the way one would expect them to. And thus we had two great opportunities to ensure winning the match after about an hour. At first, it was Kuba who wonderfully duped the whole defence and fired inside the box. But Rensing reacted quickly. Then, the following corner: Hajnal brought in into the box and then Florian Kringe failed to mark from just 3 metres because Bastian Schweinsteiger saved it in the very last moment. Damnit, that could have been the final decision on the match!
A critical situation occurred just 10 minutes later, when Neven Subotic slightly pushed Luca Toni inside the box. Arguably, this could have been a penalty. And Fandel showed yellow - for Toni for pretending a foul. Luckily, this one...
But Bayern, with all their luck (sometimes referred to as "Dusel") somehow managed the equalizer in the 74th minute. Kroos brought in a corner and Lucio headed the ball to Borowski who just shot it into the net from 5 metres of distance.
The two teams seemed to be comfortable with that situation. In other words: Nothing really happened after that. Thus, referee Fandel blew the whistle on time.
Final Thoughts:
The ideal (and best) start of a season (ever) was missed just because of a few bad minutes in which the team didn't invest any more power into a successful outcome of the match. But in the end of the day, there's hardly any reason to complain. 4 points out of two matches and a draw against Munich - that's just not what everyone expected (and come on, most of us expected at least one loss...) and raises hopes for the season.
Line-ups and figures:
BVB: Marc Ziegler (3) - Rukavina (3), Subotic (2.5), Hummels (2.5), Schmelzer (3) - Hajnal (3), Kehl (3) - Blaszczykowski (2) (77. Owomoyela) , Kringe (3) - Valdez (3), Zidan (2.5) (64. Sadrijaj (3.5))
Bayern Munich: Rensing - Lell, Lucio, van Buyten, Lahm - van Bommel - Hamit Altintop (64. Kroos), Ottl, Schweinsteiger - Klose (46. Borowski), Toni (77. Podolski)
Yellow cards: Rukavina, Hummels
Attendance: 80552 (Westfalenstadion, sold out)
Domi, 25.08.08
