[NoSkillz]

Fri. August 30, 2024

UEFA Super Cup
Borussia Dortmund vs. Dover
Stade Louis II, Fontvieille, Monaco

Betting Odds: Dortmund: 7-4 Draw: N/A Dover: 5-4
Past Meetings: 1W 0D 1L

This is our first competitive match against this German club, as our two previous match ups were preseason friendlies. Dortmund finished fifth in the German First Division last year to qualify for the Europa League once again, a year after defeating Bayern Munich in the finals. These guys have one of the finest strikers in the world in Mexican international Hugo Cruz, who has scored an astonishing 84 goals in 94 games for his country. He is coming off a 32 goal season for Dortmund last year. They just purchased our U18 graduate Norberto Vazquez but he is playing for their “B” team and I don’t expect him to play tonight. Their biggest offseason signing was Napoli fullback Dingaan Campbell, a South African international for over £16 million.

We are making some changes after our putrid loss against Newcastle at home last weekend. Sitting today out will be Neil Cairney, Manuel Perez and Rayane Hamon and taking their place are Benedikt Raab, Ingo Wilke and Saber Nasri. Raab and Wilke are both German and I thought they deserved a chance against a club from their home country. Hamon hasn’t been sharp so far so I’m giving Nasri a shot today. We’ll stick with a control mentality as favourites today.

Dover: 4-4-2 Control
GK - I. Wilke
D - Rafinha, C. Contreras, S. Nasri, S. Loucif
M - A. Bamba, B. Raab, Jose, G. Bolis
S - P. Moses, Chiquinho
Bench - Emerson, M. Yilmaz, A. Rocca, E. Harvey, G. Allan, M. Pedersen, A. Broomes

The 4-2-3-1 formation has given us fits so far and Dortmund are also using it, with Cruz alone up front. Their keeper is Julio Cesar Cejas and their big signing Dingaan Campbell is playing left fullback today. I tell the team to bring home another trophy for our supporters.

22’ - We’re gifting possession to them all over the field but we seemingly strike first, as Arsene Bamba crosses over to the molten hot Gianluca Bolis and he scores! But wait…OFFSIDES is the call. The replay confirms it wasn’t even close and hence, a good call. No goal.

24’ - Shortly after, we have the ball in their end. Bamba’s attempted cross hits a Dortmund defender and bounces back to Rafinha. He crosses to the near post to Paul Moses, who makes a great move at the byline to get to his stronger foot and his shot is off another defender and IN! There we go! DOVER GOAL 1-0

35’ - We earn a corner and Benedikt Raab goes to the near post to Saber Nasri. He can’t get it on net so he passes back to Jose, who is lurking outside the area. His low blast hits Moses then redirects once again off Dortmund midfielder Eduardo Gallardo and it’s past Cejas and IN! It’s officially an own goal but we’ll take it! DOVER GOAL 2-0

HALFTIME - Our possession numbers are once again atrocious, as Dortmund hold 56% of the ball but we outshoot them 14-11 (7-3 on target) in a wide open first half. We are outnumbered in the midfield against this tactic and that must be the reason for our lack of possession. We’ll take a two goal lead though without complaint! We’re having lots of trouble with Hugo Cruz’s speed and will have to watch out for that in the second half.

47’ - Dortmund start with the kick off and it’s Cruz sending a little ball up to midfielder Oscar. He cuts through our defence and attempts an audacious lob over Wilke and it WORKS. Wilke is not able to get back and the ball is IN. What a terrible start to the half for us. DORTMUND GOAL 2-1

Interestingly enough, Oscar is immediately taken out after the goal and Dortmund move to a flat 4-4-2.

52’ - There’s a 50/50 ball about 10 yards outside the Dortmund area and one of their central defenders tackles it back toward their keeper, away from Moses. The ball is slowly making its way to Cejas but Moses gets up and gets to the ball at the same time as the keeper. Moses is able to knock the ball away, beat him back to it and calmly deposits it into the empty net. Terrible play by Cejas there, as his initial indecision costs his club a key goal. DOVER GOAL 3-1

66’ - Dortmund continue to control possession by a wide margin but Gallardo gets nailed for a diving call in our area and gets a second yellow card, knocking him out of the game and Dortmund is down to ten men. DORTMUND RED CARD - Eduardo Gallardo

70’ - Emmerson Harvey is on for Jose.

82’ - Graham Allan comes on for Gianluca Bolis.

84’ - Geez. Cruz is given the ball at midfield and he just SPEEDS past Contreras and Nasri and is in on goal. His low shot beats Wilke and is IN. We still have a game despite them having only ten men. DORTMUND GOAL 3-2

90’ - We try to milk the clock, bringing in Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz and taking out Contreras.

90’+1 - We switch to a counter attacking mentality.

90’+3 - And there is something REALLY WRONG with our club, as Cruz turns on Yilmaz and just speeds past him before sending a ROCKET BLAST into the top corner and IN! TEN MEN DORTMUND DRAW LEVEL. DORTMUND GOAL 3-3

We switch back to a control mentality. This is incredible.

FULLTIME - I don’t know what to say. Shots are DEAD EVEN at 21-21 and they have the possession edge. Dortmund pull back to a 4-2-1-1-1 formation to start extra time. Cruz is SENSATIONAL - his speed is breathtaking.

102’ - We have already seen a Raab shot hit the crossbar and a Cruz goalpost coming the other way in the first ten minutes of extra time. We have possession with Bamba and he passes to Harvey in the middle. He sends a delicious through ball to Chiquinho and he rounds the keeper and puts the ball into the net! Dortmund appeal for offsides but the ref pushes them away. We re-take the lead! DOVER GOAL 4-3

Dortmund is back to a 4-3-2 formation.

We hold on this time. Man…what a match!

Dortmund 3 - 4 Dover
Goals - Paul Moses 2 (8.8), Eduardo Gallardo OG, Chiquinho (7.6)
Assists - Rafinha (7.0), Jose (7.0), Emmerson Harvey (6.9)
Man of the Match - Hugo Cruz (Dortmund ST - 9.2)
Other Dover Notables - Ingo Wilke (7.8), Arsene Bamba (7.2)
Attendance - 18,524

Despite playing half the game with only ten men, Dortmund held a 52% possession edge in the contest but we outshoot them 29-25 (10-12 on target) in a wild, WILD game. Cruz was RIDICULOUS for them, with two goals and an assist in an astonishing performance. His speed matches Moses but at 27 years old, he’s fully developed and was a TREAT to watch. We’re VERY lucky to prevail but again, there’s something not quite right about our team - our defence especially looks slow and disorganized and I’m a bit concerned. That said…

DOVER WIN THE UEFA SUPER CUP

-- Hey, more prize money too! We’re awarded £2,174,000 for the victory.



League Cup - Third Round Draw

-- We are two-time defending champions in this competition and we get a great draw to start despite it being a road game, as we head to Leicester to face the League 1 side. Interestingly enough, our board don’t care at all about this competition this year and we’ll definitely play a full squad of backups/reserves in our first game.



Premier League Update

-- Newcastle and Middlesbrough continue their shockingly good early season form, with both winning to move to the top of the table with a perfect nine points each. Man United knock off Chelsea, Sheffield Wednesday upset Liverpool and Arsenal squeeze past Sheffield United.



September Update

-- September sees an international break but we’ll be busy with four Premier League games: Manchester City (away), Derby (home), Burnley (away) and Huddersfield (home). We also have a Champions League group stage game at home versus Hibernian and our League Cup third round game against Leicester. So six games this month.

-- Six players train well in August, including senior team members Arsene Bamba, Andy Broomes and Mads Pedersen and U18 players Dominic Beard, Edward Smith and Nathan Protheroe. We get negative reports for Rafinha, Gianluca Bolis and Emmerson Harvey. I’ll talk with all three of those guys.



Premier League Monthly Awards

-- Middlesbrough striker Roland Hoxha wins player of the month honours after scoring seven goals in three games.

-- Claudio Contreras wins the Premier League Young Player of the Month award for August while Paul Moses comes in third.

-- Man United’s Jurgen Klinsmann wins manager of the month for August.



International Update

-- We have 21 players called up for international play. No need to name them all right now.



Board Confidence Update

-- The board are very pleased with my overall leadership of the team. Our stature increase is the main positive and our awful loss to Newcastle is the negative.

-- We made a profit of £1.08 million last month, mostly due to prize money.



Champions League Group Stage Registration

-- We register the squad without much difficulty but I have to leave off one player (Paolo Secchi) because I can’t meet the home grown requirements. No big deal there…we still have five other central midfielders registered.



Transfer Window Closes

-- The window shuts and we don’t lose any of our main players. Spurs spend over £131 million on new players, the largest outlay among Premier League teams. Meanwhile, we add the most players, bringing in 15 newcomers, many of whom are playing for our U18s.



Dover Injury Update

-- Zoltan Bardi is out for another two months with a dislocated shoulder while reserve midfielder Adam Hyde (damaged heel) is close to returning.



Next Up

-- We once again face Manchester City only weeks after defeating them in the Community Shield. This time, it’s league play at the Etihad.