This duel was supposed to be played a day before but the fact that FC Koln played a UEFA Europa League matchup on Thursday the showdown was postponed to Sunday and that’s why we will have three German Bundesliga matchups on the second day of the weekend instead of usual two. Both teams traveled to England in their respective competitions and they didn’t have a good time. Dortmund was defeated by Tottenham at Wembley Stadium 3:1 on Wednesday while Koln suffered the defeat by the same result but against another London team, FC Arsenal.
This sums up a very unsuccessful week in Europe for German teams as only Bayern managed to emerge victorious. Hertha BSC and RB Leipzig recorded home draws while aforementioned Dortmund and FC Koln along with Hoffenheim suffered defeats. Like everything, the bad week ended and it is time to shrug off the effects it had on the teams and start over in order to regain momentum in the national championship.
Borussia Dortmund vs. FC Koln
Three-Way: 1: Borussia Dortmund -286; X: +600 Draw; FC Koln +1350
Spread -1.5: Borussia Dortmund -130; FC Koln +125
Total +3.5: Over +121; Under -125
BORUSSIA DORTMUND
Borussia Dortmund team is currently on the top of the Bundesliga caravan with seven points after three rounds and a 2-1-0 record. They haven’t conceded a goal yet while scoring five so far but the latest matchup against Freiburg on the road ended up goalless although the home team had one player fewer after Y. Ravet was sent off in the 29th minute.
Peter Bosz started the game with a 4-1-2-3 scheme but it proved to be ineffective at the end as Freiburg team locked all the entrances to the goal. Besides R. Burki as the goalie, L. Piszczek, Sokratis, M. Bartra and M. Schmelzer started the game with defensive assignments while N. Sahin, M. Gotze, and G. Castro operated in the midfield. C. Pulisic, P. Aubameyang, and M. Phillip started the game at center-forward position with certain wing assignments. After the team received the unexpected advantage in the form of opponents’ player being sent off, Bosz tried to freshen up the squad with a couple of substitutes as A. Yarmolenko and D. Zagadou entered the game instead of Schmelzer and Gotze but the scoreboard stayed intact. The team had 78% ball possession and recorded 30 total shots towards the goal oppose to Freiburg’s seven but the dominance looked brittle on the pitch. Nuri Sahin and Sokratis presented the biggest threat for goalkeeper Schowlow with five shots towards goal each. Omer Toprak and Christian Pulisic dominated the passing game with 94% and 93.3% of passes completed but couldn’t make a difference.
In the UEFA Champions League, they weren’t very lucky with the draw as they got to play in the “group of death” that besides Tottenham Hotspur features Real Madrid and Cyprian champion APOEL Nicosia. Their next matchup in the competition will be the mega duel against the reigning European champion Real Madrid on September 26th at Westfallen.
Marcel Schmelzer (ankle) is expected to be out until at least late October while Raphael Guerreiro (foot) should be back in a few weeks. Hendrik Bonmann (knee) and Marco Reus (cruciate ligament) should be available in late November while Marc Bartra’s (groin) and Sebastian Rode’s (groin) status is yet unknown. Mario Gotze (head) is listed as doubtful for Sunday while Andre Schurle (thigh) and Eric Durm (hip) are days to day.
FC KOLN
FC Koln team is witnessing one of the worst starts of the season in teams’ history with three consecutive defeats in first three rounds. Borussia Monchengladbach (0:1) and FC Augsburg (0:3) on the road and Hamburger SV (1:3) at home proved to be lethal for the Billy Goats so far and the icing on the cake came on Thursday night in London where FC Koln debuted in the UEFA Europa League competition group stage with a loss against FC Arsenal (1:3).
In the Bundesliga, they are currently locked at the bottom with no points earned and this trend should be broken as soon as possible. Fans had great expectations prior to the season start because the team showed some attitude and character last year when they managed to secure the Europa League berth in the last couple of rounds but all this excitement quickly faded away and the squad finds themselves in front of the abyss. A possible defeat on Sunday would look like a disaster and coach Stoger wants to avoid that at any cost. He tried to experiment with the scheme in last two games, searching for the perfect fit but these moves haven’t been very successful.
Against FC Augsburg he started with the 4-4-2 scheme while on Thursday the scheme looked more like 4-1-4-1 formation. In the national championship matchup, they held the ball in their possession for 63% of the time but still managed to concede three goals while in London they got outplayed big time, especially in the second half when Arsenal scored all three goals. Perhaps the most effective formation could be a 4-2-3-1 scheme that he used in the first two rounds. They did record defeats in both games but against Hamburger SV the team looked a bit different and more motivated. Starting eleven also remains a mystery, especially in the defensive line that proved to be very leaky and inefficient so far.
In all this mess there is one good news for the coach Stoger and that is the fact that he has his entire roster (minus only two guys) available and injury free. In a matter of fact, this short list could be shortened to just one player because Artjoms Rudnevs who is having some flu misfortunes could be ready for Sunday. Marius Laux is listed as doubtful with an unknown injury.
Borussia Dortmund vs. FC Koln – Match Prediction
Last years’ matchups between these two foes ended peacefully with 1:1 draw in Koln and 0:0 draw in Dortmund. This time I sincerely doubt that the duel will end peacefully. Borussia Dortmund needs to bounce back after the midweek Champions League defeat and they need to keep the pace moving in the German Bundesliga as they currently rank at the top of the league table, the spot that they haven’t had the privilege to beat in recent years.
On the other side, another defeat for the Billy Goats would present an imminent disaster with five consecutive losses at the start of the year. Furthermore, when we look at the injury list we can see that Dortmund has a couple of very important players unavailable at the moment and Koln has its full roster in disposal meaning that this should not be an easy job for the host. My pick here is over 3.5 goals in total.
My pick: Over 3.5 goals (+121)
