16th matchday
Next setback for BVB: draw against Mainz
Sepp Van Den Berg (r) scored Mainz’s equalizer in Dortmund. photo
© Bernd Thissen/dpa
The hope of a redemptive victory turns out to be wishful thinking. After the 1-1 draw against Mainz, BVB is threatened with a restless winter break. The criticism of Terzic is likely to become louder.
A shrill concert of whistles from the stands, perplexed players on the pitch and a serious-looking coach on the sidelines who is now coming under even more criticism.
After the painful title trauma last May Borussia Dortmund once again showed nerves in the duel with FSV Mainz and suffered a serious setback.
206 days after the memorable season finale (2:2) at the same venue, with which football teacher Terzic’s team lost the championship, the hoped-for feeling of success with a 1:1 (1:1) failed to materialize once again. “For me it’s basically about the situation, it’s not easy,” said BVB national player Julian Brandt on the TV station Sat.1. “It sucks, if you’re honest. It always sucks going into the break with a draw or a loss.”
Sixth competitive game without a win
The sixth competitive game without a win in a row is likely to increase criticism of the BVB coach. Media reports about an alleged “player rebellion” against Terzic had already caused additional explosiveness before the game. The re-qualification of the fifth-placed team in the Bundesliga for the Champions League is becoming more and more in danger.
“We simply made too many mistakes,” said national player Emre Can: It was simply the crucial moments that were not on BVB’s side. “It’s not always up to the coach. It has nothing to do with the coach if the ball hits the crossbar,” emphasized Can when asked about this on the pay-TV channel Sky.
No Christmas rest at BVB
The guests’ goal conceded by Sepp Van den Berg (43rd minute) on Tuesday in front of 80,350 spectators in Signal Iduna Park after BVB’s interim lead by Julian Brandt (29th) will seriously disrupt the longed-for Christmas peace.
On the other hand, the Mainz team finally had reason to be happy again. The end of the goal drought after 363 minutes and the respectable draw brought us up to 15th place in the table, at least for one day. Whether this increases interim coach Jan Siewert’s chance of being promoted to head coach and permanent successor to Bo Svensson remains an open question for the time being.
Sabitzer also only hits the crossbar
After the criticism of the past few days, BVB was clearly trying to make amends and took control from the start. Jamie Bynoe-Gittens provided the first exclamation mark when he powerfully shot the ball onto the crossbar in the eighth minute. Shortly afterwards, the BVB attacker narrowly missed the opponent’s goal with a long-range shot (16th).
A remarkable free kick from Brandt took some of the pressure off Borussia. The national player skillfully circled the ball into the top left corner from 18 meters and put his team in the lead. Just two minutes later, BVB was even close to making it 2-0. However, like Bynoe-Gittens before him, Marcel Sabitzer only hit the crossbar.
Whistles from the stands for Borussia
Until then, there had been little to see of the Mainz team on the offensive. Shots on goal 14:3 in favor of BVB accurately reflected the course of the game. But when Terzic’s team slowed down, the guests hit back with a goal out of nowhere. Van den Berg headed Philipp Mwene’s cross into the net from close range.
The dismayed faces of the BVB professionals at the half-time whistle said more than a thousand words. After the restart, Borussia seemed unsettled. Suddenly Mainz was the team dominating the game and even pushed for the lead. The first whistles from the stands prompted the BVB professionals to pick up the pace. But they didn’t have as good chances as they had in the first 45 minutes. There was no sign of any rebellion against the draw, and a goal in added time by Giovanni Reyna was disallowed because of an offside position.