For eight Dortmund World Cup drivers, everyday club life is back – much faster than expected. A few days after the embarrassing Qatar knockout, they complete a tight training session under coach Edin Terzic. After all, there is a lot to do with a view to the second half of the season.
Winter cold instead of warm desert wind – the Dortmund World Cup participants would have gladly done without this unexpected contrast program. Unlike their fellow sufferers from the DFB team, Nico Schlotterbeck, Niklas Süle, Youssoufa Moukoko, Julian Brandt and Karim Adeyemi were not released by their club after their early and embarrassing knockout in Qatar, but were ordered to train before the Christmas break. This unusual measure made headlines, but did not come as a surprise to the professionals concerned.
According to football teacher Edin Terzic, she had already made an appointment before the start of the World Cup in the event of an early departure. The return to everyday life began with the intensive 75-minute session. In addition to the German quintet, the Belgians Thorgan Hazard and Thomas Meunier, who were also eliminated from the Qatar tournament, and the American Giovanni Reyna also did their rounds at the training ground in the Brackel suburb. Only after the “Christmas Cup” on Saturday in Bucharest (Romania) with two short games against Rapid Bucharest and AC Fiorentina will the entire squad have vacation until January 2nd.
After a mixed season so far with the last two defeats in Wolfsburg (0:2) and Mönchengladbach (2:4), Terzic sees a great need for action. During Borussia’s ten-day trip to Asia with the remaining professionals, which ended last week, he had already announced a tougher approach: “We have to change our behavior in order to be successful. It’s a simple equation. You can’t expect more when you work less. And we must do more to achieve more.”
In addition to intensive preparation, Borussia could benefit from the fact that numerous professionals who have been missing for weeks will be available again when the league restarts on January 22 against FC Augsburg. Young star Jamie Bynoe-Gittens completed a large part of the unit. His teammate Mahmod Dahoud, who also had an operation on his shoulder, is making promising progress, but had to sit out due to a cold. Mats Hummels, Marco Reus, Dahoud, Anthony Modeste, Tom Rothe and goalkeeper Alexander Meyer, who were absent from team training this Wednesday, are expected to be back by the start of training in the new year at the latest. Goalscorer Modeste did light running training after his groin surgery.
Terzic sees plenty of room for improvement and referred to the table placement beyond the Champions League ranks: “We are all not happy with sixth place. But we still have 19 games in which we want to show that we are better. And that works not without hard work.”