Right time for dreaming?

I would like to open this article with one simple question: When is the right time for dreaming? Dreaming not only about qualifying for Europe again, but dreaming about the championship gold? Is it when you beat 10 out of 12 opponents in the German Bundesliga? Is it, when you are unbeaten in Bundesliga for 11 weeks in a row? Is it when you have beaten Hamburger SV at home with a secure 2-0 (0-0) victory? Is it when you have the best offense and best defense of the whole league? Is it when you are on top of the rankings, seemingly unreachable for bitter enemies like Bayern Munich or Blue-White? Well, I would like to come back to this question at the end of this text. Let's first talk about the recent glory against HSV.

Before the match

The question marks behind Lucas Barrios and Kevin Großkreutz disappeared so that they both are able to play even though they had some issues with their thigh during the week. Therefore, Borussia started with the same, tending to get used to say standard line-up with Piszczek on the right defensive side and Götze on the right side in the midfield. On the other hand, Hamburger SV missed 10 players including keeper Frank Rost, forward Ruud van Nistelrooy, Eljero Elia and German nationals Aogo and Janssen. However, they managed to get eleven players on the pitch and played with a 4-3-3 and former Dortmund player Mladen Petric who was booed every time he was near the ball. The other forwards were Pitroipa and Guerrero, the midfield was formed by Trochowski, Jarolim and Kacar and in the defense, former blue-white player Heiko Westermann was supported by Mathijsen, Ze Roberto and also former Dortmund player Guy Demel who had an incredible development over in Hamburg. Keeper Frank Rost was replaced by Jaroslav Drobny who got relegated with Hertha BSC Berlin last season and then went to HSV.

First Half

80.720 fans of Borussia and Hamburger SV sold out the Westfalenstadion and witnessed a performance by Nena before the match. She presented her song "Leuchtturm" in an unspectular way and went off the pitch as fast as she hit it. Maybe as a reaction to this, "Leuchtturm" was not sung this evening on the Südtribüne. However, that was kind of a highlight of the first 60 minutes in the Westfalenstadion. Both teams neutralised each other and played with a very consequent defense so that there were hardly any opportunities for both teams to get the lead. Super-Lucas missed a cross by Piszczek and was knocked out later by Drobny but managed to get back into the game which turned out to be important for glorious Borussia. The only opportunity of the first half was missed by youngster Super-Mario Götze who took his left foot instead of his right one after a nice cross by Schmelzer and therefore slightly missed the goal (41st). But the match would change in the second half...

Second Half

Three minutes have been played after the break when "Manni" Bender set Piszczek in action who marched on the right side, only to lay the ball back to Kagawa Shinji who scored from the edge of the penalty area, not without assistance of Westermann who slightly deflected the ball to beat his own goalkeeper (49th). It was the sixth goal of the most dangerous midfield player in the Bundesliga. From this point on, the crowd in the Westfalenstadion went nuts. You also have to say that 5000-6000 fans of HSV supported their team in a nice way, but you only could hear the chants of the best fans of the world who in a way took my question and sung "Who will become championship winner?" and answered with the all-known "BVB Borussia". A few minutes later, Drobny had some problems with a free kick taken by Sahin (53rd) and BVB could have been given a penalty when the hand of Westermann clearly went to the ball, but referee Deniz Aytekin who made some confusing decisions over the whole evening, did not see it that way. The first try of HSV to equal the score could be seen after Korean Son had been brought into the game, dribbled through the Dortmund defense only to be stopped finally by Subotic (69th). Right on the other side, Kagawa played a beautiful ball straight to Götze who will be playing for Germany this Wednesday and found Großkreutz at the left post who showed all of his technique by playing the ball back to Barrios with his heel and our forward had no mercy to double the score (70th). A beautiful goal, in a way representing the present status of Borussia. The best chance of HSV to get back into the match was not used by Petric whose header went over the goal by hitting the top of the crossbar (76th). However, BVB could even score the third goal of the evening when a header by Barrios was rescued by Drobny (80th). Five minutes before the final whistle, fan favorite Leonardo Dede was brought in for Götze and was celebrated by the whole stadium.
All in all, it was a deserved victory since Borussia had everything under control nearly over the whole 90 minutes and celebrated the victory with his fans afterwards. Of course, the chants were about the German championship again, since dreaming is not forbidden these days.

Aftermath

Before the matches on Saturday have been played, we find ourselves on top of the league (of course), being 7 points away from secondly-ranked Mainz 05, the whole world really seems to be black and yellow these days.
Coming back to the question asked at the beginning of this article. When is the right time for dreaming? I would like to counter this question with another one: Why do we have to dream? Why don't we celebrate today and the fact that we are that damn good? Why thinking about the future when living in the present is so good right now? Or am I even dreaming right now and the league has not started yet? Can somebody please pinch me to check if this whole thing is really real? Oh, yes, it really is... So even though this is the right time for dreaming, stay in the present and celebrate this young team, able to play a nice ball even though they have to play at a regular basis with matches in Europa League on the one side and matches in Bundesliga on the other half. Celebrate that young squad and don't think about tomorrow. If you want to look forward, look forward to the next match in Freiburg on Saturday, since we know after an old very well-known phrase: "the next match is always the hardest one".

Stats

Borussia Dortmund: Weidenfeller [3,5] – Piszczek [2,5], Subotic [3], Hummels [3], Schmelzer [2,5] – Bender [2], Sahin [3] – Götze [2], Kagawa [2], Großkreutz [3] – Barrios [2]

Subs: Kuba for Großkreutz (71st), Lewandowski for Kagawa (78th), Dede für Götze (85th)

Hamburger SV: Drobny - Demel, Westermann, Mathijsen, Zé Roberto - Jarolim - Kacar, Trochowski - Pitroipa, Petric, Guerrero

Subs: Rincon for Kacar (34th), Son for Rincon (65th), Besic for Demel (80th)

Goals: 1-0 Kagawa (49th), 2-0 Barrios (70th)

Bookings: Jarolim

Referee: Aytekin (Oberasbach)

Attendance: 80.720 (Westfalenstadion/sold-out)

Vanni, 13.11.2010

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