What went wrong? How did Dortmund fall behind 5 other Bundesliga teams, while losing less, allowing less goals, and having a superior goal differential? It is all explained when you look at a single statistic, ties. BVB finished with the second most ties in the Bundesliga at 14. So obviously the Schwarzgelben had the ability to keep up and match that of any other club in the Bundesliga, as they scored an equal amount of goals or more than their opponents in 29 of their 34 (85%) games. And this is where the limiting reagent hindered BVB’s success in 2008.

The reagent was simply the inability to finish. Whether the team lacked the skill to overcome a draw, or just didn’t have the killer instinct to finish the opponent off. Dortmund suffered from the lack of a sense of urgency, this is undeniably clear through out the season, but especially in their final match against Borussia Mönchengladbach. As BVB was on the brink of attaining a spot to compete internationally, the club reached yet another draw, allowing Borussia
Mönchengladbach to keep its head above water and remain in the Bundesliga.

Perhaps you can argue that Borussia Mönchengladbach was in dire straights, while BVB was only looking to put icing on a successful season. Regardless, a team capable of achieving what Dortmund did should be able to overcome a 1:1 draw, unless of course there is something missing.

Another way to look at this is obviously the lack of scoring goals when the club absolutely needed it. Alexander Frei led BVB with a total of 12 goals, followed by Valdez, who had 8. Not to discredit either of these players, but it’s clear that Dortmund lacked a star striker, or even a formidable duo. Now with Alexander Frei leaving the Schwarzgelben for FC Basel, BVB is going have to rely on a breakout performance from one of their players, or their summer acquisitions. But this is something I believe BVB will overcome, and as long as they continue to play at the same level as they did last year, we should be in for a treat.

“We accepted the punishment because Weidenfeller used words you should not use that way”, BVB Director of Sport Michael Zorc said. “It is important for us that the racist background of the allegation has not been kept up.”

Well, that’s good to know. It’s kind of silly Weidenfeller was suspended and fined if he didn’t make any racist comments, though. If he was talking trash to Asamoah, so what? Trash talking happens all the time, especially when it’s a derby. Whatever. Atleast we didn’t get hit with a points deduction (not that there’s any to take away…) and Weidenfeller didn’t call Asamoah a “black pig”. Good to know.

In other news, Westline is reporting that Sebastian Kehl will most likely be undergoing another surgery on his hurt knee. The decision was reached after Kehl took a visit to some physicians. All in all, this sucks. It’s been a year-plus now and he’s still feeling the effects of that tackle. Ouch.

And finally, the Roman Weidenfeller-called-Gerald Asamoah-a-black-pig story will have a resolution on Thursday (that would be tomorrow). The DFB Committee had been deliberating over what to do in this situation, and their conclusion will be unveiled to us all mañana.

Sebastian Kehl is also in a race against time to be fit for this Saturday’s derby. The knee he had surgery done on (from that injury way back at the start of last season) has swollen up and has kept him out of practice for much of the week. His status for the match against Schalke is listed as doubtful.

Finally, you can add Philipp Degen’s name to the list of those injured. Although there has been no proper diagnosis of his injury, Degen’s knee is the culprit. He also is expected to miss the derby this weekend.

In a friendly match (staged for charity) against DJK Greven, Frei scored two goals in a 8-0 Borussia Dortmund win. Hey, atleast we’re awesome at beating up on crappy teams throughout Germany (but when it comes to world powers like MSV Duisburg, we’re helpless…).

Florian Kringe got things rolling on 12 minutes, with Frei scoring his first of the evening just four minutes later. Nelson Valdez continued his run of scoring against crappy teams in the 19th, while Giovanni Federico made it 5-0 in the 42nd minute.

Frei again found the back of the net, this time 13 minutes after the re-start. Amateur Nöthe added one of his own in the 82nd minute, and fellow amateur Boztepe finished it off just two minutes later.

Hmmm. We’ve had a couple of 8-0 wins against poor quality teams this year. 8-0 against Schalke? Sounds good to me.

Again, Dortmund won’t sell Dede for anything less than €10million. This is where Roma blew it. They were offering only around €6million, and Michael Zorc has said that simply won’t cut it.

Talks around BVB fan-parts have kicked up the idea of perhaps selling Dede for €8million plus a player from Newcastle. Obviously Dortmund would have to find a player on the Magpies’ squad who they value at €2million (and is available), but I’m not sure I like this idea.

For me, I’d rather take the €10 million (assuming Dortmund sell Dede and this is what he goes for) and search the globe for the best replacement. I’m sure there are better players available than pine-riders at Newcastle United.

In other news, Dortmund finished up their preseason friendlies with a 4-1 win over Arnheim. Kuba again found the back of the net (16′), Smolarek was at the double (50′, 69′), and surprise package Delron Buckley scored the final goal in the 80th minute.

Good stuff, boys. Now beat Magdeburg in the Cup and start the season off right with a win over Duisburg.

The news is much welcomed by Thomas Doll (and BVB fans everywhere), but Doll is still being cautious with Frei. He says a timetable for his match return hasn’t been set because he wants to ensure Frei gets all the time he needs to fully recover.

I guess it’s better not to take any chances with the league’s second leading goalscorer (from last season, that is). Hopefully the time off he’s getting will make him come back without any signs of that injury.

In related news, Daniel Gordon and Sebastian Tyrala have both been declared out due to injuries. I have no clue as to how long either of them will be out.

UPDATE: Kicker is saying this is now a done deal. (7/20/07)

I don’t understand this. Long-term it’s not such a bad deal, but it might come back to bite us this year. We’ve already loaned out Nuri Sahin to Feyenoord (without an option to buy, by the way), so who is going to play central midfield for us? Maybe we’re only planning on playing three in the midfield, with Petric playing in between the midfielders and forwards (4-3-1-2?)…

If so, who are those other three? Kuba will most certainly be one of them, as he has been receiving high praise from Thomas Doll (although Doll has said that he’d like to see Kuba be more selfish in front of goal). I’ve also gotta think that Sebastian Kehl and Tinga will figure in there somewhere. Then again, Giovanni Federico is a new acquisition and a goal scorer, so he should also see playing time. Also, you can’t rule Florian Kringe out of the mix. Doll certainly has plenty of choices as to who he wants to play!

On a different subject, I’ve been trying to figure out who will be playing forward with Klimowicz while Frei is still injured. I’m leaning towards Ebi Smolarek, but Nelson Valdez did just score two goals (amazing, I know) in our last friendly, so maybe he’s going to actually do something this year. This is all assuming Petric plays in that hanging role, of course. I’ll put my money on Ebi at this point.

Your thoughts?

On a lighter note, the team received a visit from Roger Federer at their Swiss hotel. Apparently he was seen chatting it up with fellow countryman Philipp Degen. In case you’ve been living under a rock, Federer just won his fifth straight Wimbledon title. That’s just ridiculous.

Finally, Dortmund have another friendly match tomorrow. The opponent will be Anderlecht, who just lost to Galatasaray 1-0. Galatasaray will then be playing Young Boys Bern, who beat Dortmund after penalties.

P.S. There’s a photo out and about of Mladen Petric that shows the full BVB away uniform. It can be seen here. It looks better than I initially thought it would, but those black sleeves just look completely out of place. What do you think?