Wuppertaler SV played a great game against Borussia Dortmund’s U23 team in the Regionalliga West. Coach Mike Wunderlich sees individual mistakes – and addresses them clearly.

Wuppertaler SV, with coach Mike Wunderlich at the helm, is slowly but surely finding its footing in the Regionalliga West. After a strong performance, they drew 2-2 (1-2) against Borussia Dortmund’s U23 team. 2-2 against the sixth-placed team: a result that everyone at Wuppertaler SV would certainly have signed up for before kick-off. It speaks volumes for WSV’s performance that there was still dissatisfaction afterwards. The game got off to an excellent start. Vincent Schaub put WSV ahead 1-0 in the eighth minute. “We got off to a good start, stuck to our game plan, and deserved to take the lead,” said coach Wunderlich, who was also satisfied with the early stages.

But then the game flattened out, and BVB took a somewhat flattering lead with two chances from Michael Eberwein (25th minute) and Nick Cherny (41st minute). However, the truth is that WSV also played a big part in this. “Eberwein has his back to our goal, and we have four players standing next to him. That’s too cheap for me,“ complained the coach, who also criticized a WSV mistake for the second goal.

WSV does a lot right defensively, but helps BVB score goals

From Wunderlich’s point of view, Cherny’s long-range shot was ”not an unstoppable ball” for goalkeeper Michael Luyambula. However, WSV did not give up and then equalized through an own goal by Ousmane Diallo after a corner following the break (47′). Just three minutes later, new signing Josue Santo almost crowned his debut, but he only hit the left post after a cross from Schaub. WSV was also unlucky when a clear foul by Elias Benkara on Schaub was not penalized with a penalty (57′).

“The belief was there, the passion was there,” said Wunderlich, who was satisfied overall. “You could also see it in the crowd. Only with this mentality will it work. I would have liked the team to get the three points for this courageous performance, of course. But we’ll take the point.”

My role hasn’t changed, but the captain’s armband motivates me even more to achieve success with the team.

Dominic Duncan

Thanks to their strong fighting performance, the crowd remained vocal in their support for WSV until the very end. “The fans were loud throughout the game,” said WSV captain Dominic Duncan, who also experienced the fantastic support. “They’ve always supported us, of course, but today they were even louder. We are very grateful for that as a team.“

The tall defensive midfielder has now settled into his role as captain. ”My role hasn’t changed, but the captain’s armband motivates me even more to achieve success with the team.“

Meanwhile, BVB coach Daniel Rios saw ”not a good performance” from his team. “We didn’t get into the game at all, which continued throughout the entire first half. The only positive was the 2-1 lead. At halftime, we discussed what we wanted to do better in the second half. That didn’t seem to sink in. What followed was a frantic phase in which Wuppertal could certainly have taken the lead.”

Dortmund’s U23s continue their campaign on Sunday (February 15) against VfL Bochum’s U21s. Kick-off at the Rote Erde stadium is at 2 p.m. At the same time, Wuppertaler SV will be playing Schalke 04’s U23s at the Parkstadion.