Despite departures: BVB U19 eye knockout stage | OneFootball

With their 4-1 win at FC Schalke 04, Borussia Dortmund’s U19s secured a prestigious victory last weekend, after having to bounce back from two clear defeats away at VfL Wolfsburg (0-4) and against FC Augsburg (0-3). That things have been a bit bumpy so far in the new year—including the clear exit from the Youth League against AZ Alkmaar (0-4)—is not a huge surprise.

In addition to Mussa Kaba, who was promoted to the U23s last summer, coach Felix Hirschnagl now also has to do without Luca Reggiani, Samuele Inacio, and Mathis Albert. This trio is supposed to get used to adult football in the Regionalliga until the summer and, as has already happened in the cases of Reggiani and Inacio, get a taste of professional football, so that they can move up permanently to coach Niko Kovac’s squad next season.

This loss of key players is naturally a challenge for Hirschnagl, as the U19 coach openly admitted to Ruhr Nachrichten: “Of course, you lose quality at first. You lose your leaders, of course. You have to develop new leaders in the middle of things. That’s the main task right now.”

The Round of 16 Remains the Goal

Even though the squad has lost some quality, the aim is still to progress beyond the main round: “Our goal is clearly to finish in the top four and thus reach the knockout stage,” said Hirschnagl, whose team currently sits in fourth place in Group B—which consists of six teams—with six points from the first four matches, behind Wolfsburg, 1. FC Heidenheim, and Augsburg, and ahead of Schalke and Holstein Kiel.

Photo: IMAGO

On Saturday (kick-off: 11 a.m.), BVB wants to confirm the derby win against 1. FC Heidenheim and take another step towards the knockout phase—focusing especially on two things: “We’re conceding too many goals and our chance conversion isn’t good enough,” said Hirschnagl, who also hopes that new leaders will emerge: “We need to regain a team spirit for the full 90 minutes to prevent conceding goals. Now, other players have to step up.”

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.