Promotion to the 3. Liga? Here’s what Dortmund’s U23 coach Rios says | OneFootball

The table speaks for itself. The first place in the Regionalliga West is currently miles away for Borussia Dortmund's U23. Fortuna Köln has pulled ahead by 13 points, making them the top contender for promotion to the 3rd league.

Last Sunday, BVB II suffered a 1-2 defeat at home against Rot-Weiß Oberhausen. Although the Black and Yellows still have one game in hand, escaping the fourth tier after just one year seems increasingly difficult.

The performances of the newly assembled team after last year's relegation have been too inconsistent. After a weak start to the season with just two wins from the first seven matches, Dortmund's reserve recently climbed from eleventh to fourth place. Then came the setback against RWO, resulting in a drop to sixth place.

Rios crowns promotion favorites

The Cloverleaves showed BVB their limits and, with only a six-point gap to Köln's Fortuna, are eyeing the top spot themselves. “Oberhausen pressed aggressively up front,” quotes Reviersport Daniel Rios (46). “We then made unnecessary ball losses. We just weren't clean in our passing game,” laments the Borussia coach.

Even the help of Luca Reggiani (18), who was recently playing with the professionals, couldn't prevent the home defeat. However, the team's average age was only 19.27 years. But Rios does not see this as the reason for the result. “I don't want to attribute the defeat solely to having a young team. We consciously decided that we wanted the boys for this game.”

Photo: IMAGO

After four years in the third league, the Regionalliga is likely to remain the home of Dortmund's U23 for at least the next season, Rios suspects. “League leader Fortuna Köln is above everything,” the head coach has determined and concludes: “That's something you just have to accept.”

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