With Mats Hummels and Marco Reus watching on, a Borussia Dortmund B eleven won the first test match of their Asian trip emphatically.
After the opening defeat at the World Cup against Japan, the German defensive players were at the centre of criticism. One question in particular was repeatedly hotly debated: Could Mats Hummels, who was left out by national coach Hansi Flick, have helped the DFB team?
Instead of Qatar, the 33-year-old BVB professional, who described his non-nomination as “one of the bigger disappointments” of his career, is on a marketing trip with his club in Southeast Asia.
However, Hummels did not feature in a test match against Lion City Sailors the day after the DFB debacle. The central defender was not part of the line-up. Instead, he signed autographs before kick-off and then watched BVB beat the Singapore Premier League runners-up 7:2.
In goalkeeper Alexander Meyer, Salih Özcan, Malen, Emre Can and Felix Passlack, only five professionals from the Bundesliga squad were used. The squad, which was thinned out due to the many World Cup players, was filled out with numerous talents from the U23 and U19 teams. In addition, seven injured professionals around striker Anthony Modeste remained in Dortmund – unlike Marco Reus. The BVB captain, whose World Cup dream was shattered by an injury, travelled with the team. He is working on his comeback on site.
As spectators, Reus and Hummels saw youngsters Braaf, Coulibaly, Pasalic, Pohlmann and Broschinski start from the start in sweltering temperatures. Also in the starting eleven: Defender Nico Schulz, who has not been considered since the beginning of the season and is considered a transfer candidate in the winter.
Although coach Edin Terzic started with the second row, BVB were clearly superior. It took a good half hour before this was reflected in the score. A deflected cross from Malen gave the team the lead (32nd). Three minutes later Malen scored the 2:0 (35.). And it was the Dutchman who scored the third goal shortly before the break (45.).
For the second half Terzic changed nine times, only Passlack and Pohlmann stayed on the pitch. They were also taken out of the game after a quarter of an hour. Samuel Bamba, among others, was a newcomer and immediately made his mark: he scored twice to increase the lead to 5:0 (65th, 72nd). In the final phase, Julian Rijkhoff (84th) and Justin Njinmah (86th) added two more goals. The hosts at least managed two consolation goals (67th, 90th).
For Dortmund it was the first of three test matches. Before the return flight on 30 November, they will play the Johor Southern Tigers (Malaysia, 28 November, 12 noon) and the Vietnamese national team (30 November, 1 pm).