Dhe famous mentality debate is a kind of constant companion for Borussia Dortmund on the way through the ups and downs of such a football season, and the 2-1 win in the round of 16 of the DFB Cup in Bochum also made a very interesting contribution to this discussion. But no one used the poisoned word “mentality”, which is what is primarily used when the accusation is raised that Borussia Dortmund did not play with the right mentality. In Bochum, the contributions on the subject sounded somewhat different.
“We accepted that today, that was the decisive factor,” said Emre Can, who scored 0-1 for BVB from around 50 meters just before the break (45+1 minutes). Coach Edin Terzic spoke of a “fight” that his team had faced with all the necessary robustness: “Today we accepted all the resistance, resisted it and that’s why we deservedly made it into the round of 16.”
It was already apparent that this traditionally quite fickle team had struggled with a few things that evening: The lawn was so rutted that an ambitious combination game was hardly possible, and during the duels there was constant pushing and shoving, football games with so many Upper body fouls are rare.
Excitement about a hand penalty
In addition, the hand penalty, which Kevin Stöger used to make it 1-1 (64th), was highly controversial. Referee Tobias Stieler viewed images of the scene as Jamie Bynoe-Gittens bounced the ball to his arm for an unusually long time before making his decision.
The arm was laid out, but at such an unfavorable angle that one can argue about whether it was a “natural” or an “unnatural” increase in the body surface. There was certainly no intention, as even Bochum’s coach Thomas Letsch admitted. And just before the action, Bynoe-Gittens had also been fouled, Terzic noted.
There was a time when a moment like this would have hit Dortmund hard, but they are currently fighting their way through somehow and were able to celebrate their fifth win in five games of 2023 after the final whistle. Sebastian Kehl “is to be expected” with BVB, as he said after the 5-1 win against SC Freiburg last Saturday, which is not least due to the consistency with which coach Terzic is currently coaching. Or maybe one should say better: can coach. Because the bank is currently allowing an approach that was not possible in the phase of the season before the World Cup, which was characterized by injuries.
It is noticeable that players who are brilliant in football but not necessarily very robust like captain Marco Reus are currently sitting on the bench a lot. As in the hard-fought 2-0 win in Leverkusen, Reus came on late in Bochum.
Professionals like Raphael Guerreiro or Youssoufa Moukoko also get significantly fewer minutes than in autumn because the coach consistently relies on energetic workers like Marius Wolf, Emre Can, Julian Ryerson, Sebastien Haller and Anthony Modeste. Salih Özcan and Jude Bellingham always play when they can anyway. And Julian Brandt has developed from a careless technician to a strong-willed defensive fighter, which is exemplary for BVB these weeks.
The coach’s signal is clear: Borussia Dortmund should be less of a team combining in the chains than a team that overcomes resistance. That was the key to victory in Leverkusen and Mainz and now again for the strong Bochumers, who had previously won five Bundesliga home games in a row.
The Dortmund team overcomes all resistance and is in the quarter-finals.
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Image: AFP
On this evening, too, VfL had actually created the conditions under which teams with better playing skills, such as Dortmund, kept losing interest in the game. “Because of the way Bochum played, we never got any rest,” said Kehl. But BVB didn’t give in, and at some point they made a clever move despite the lack of quality: Özcan played deep, Bellingham kept the overview and put it across to Reus, who had meanwhile come on as a substitute, and who only had to shoot the ball into an empty goal ( 70.).
“Today it was the little things that counted and in the end they worked for Dortmund. But we can be proud of the game we played today,” said Bochum captain Anthony Losilla, which is certainly true. From Dortmund’s point of view, however, it is more of a big deal than a small thing not only to be able to win such victories, but also to be able to fight for them.
