Matchday 1: Dortmund vs. Duisburg

By: Steven | August 7th, 2007

petric_goal_celebration It’s here. The Bundesliga finally kicks off the new season this weekend and Dortmund gets things underway in a “minor” Ruhr derby against new boys MSV Duisburg. Kickoff is set for 5:00 PM German time, meaning US viewers can see it at 11:00 AM EST/10:00 AM CST.

Sizing up Duisburg

The Zebras have had a pretty solid offseason, both in friendlies results and new acquisitions. They’ve signed Fernando Santos and Maicon Thiago Pereira da Souza, a Brazilian defender and midfielder, respectively. According to the club, they “are not well known yet, but are jewels we will need to stay in the Bundesliga”.

Other new Zebras include striker Mannaseh Ishiaku and prize signing Ailton. All in all, 12 new players have been brought in to ensure Duisburg are competitive.

And competitive they have been (in preseason, atleast). Highlights of their pre-Bundesliga warmups include a 2-1 win over Dutch Eredivisie champions PSV Eindhoven, as well as a 4-0 win over Babelsberg in the DFB Cup.

Keys to victory
Offense
Get Kuba involved
Petric-Klimowicz-Smolarek connection

Defense
CB’s — How will Wörns and Kovac work with each other?
Degen — will he look stupid out there again?

Outlook
This isn’t a game we should lose. We’ve had a pretty solid offseason as well, and the new players we’ve brought in should be able to see us past a tricky Duisburg side. I’m thinking we’ll win this one by either a 2-1 or 3-1 scoreline.

P.S. I’ll be out of action for the rest of the week. I know, I know. Bad timing, right? I’ll be back Sunday though with a full match recap. Come on, BVB!