24 degrees – the Black & Yellows looking forward to Atlanta
It was a step forward. 'With the ball, definitely,' said Julian Brandt in an interview with BVB-TV, going on to add: 'The big flaw was our finishing.' It had been very different on Saturday in the 4-3 win against Sundowns. While the chances created corresponded to 1.72 expected goals, clinical finishing resulted in four goals, a narrow 4-3 win and three important points. The opposite was true against Ulsan: Daniel Svensson's goal in the 36th minute was enough for a 1-0 win and the three points needed to win the group. The quality of the chances, resulting from 28 shots on goal to 3, should have led to 3.42 BVB goals.
'We could have put ourselves in a more comfortable position earlier,' said Brandt. 'Nevertheless, the lads did well, especially in thwarting counterattacks. We won the group and we're in the round of 16. That's all that matters.' Niko Kovac took a similar view at the press conference. 'I'm glad we managed to create significantly more chances than in the first two games,' said the head coach. 'We controlled the game and created good opportunities. In the second half, the temperatures contributed to us trying to wind the game down. All in all, we can be satisfied. We improved compared to the first two games. Now we're in first place, have an extra day to rest and then travel to Atlanta to play in a beautiful stadium.'
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First place means one more day of recovery and preparation time. 'Especially when it comes to the strain of travelling,' says Brandt. 'We're always flying back and forth for a day. Another plus point is that after two matches at midday and one at 15:00, Borussia Dortmund can now avoid the intense heat. Kick-off in Atlanta is at 21:00 local time. The forecast is for 24 degrees Celsius when BVB take on CF Monterrey, who finished second in Group E, on Tuesday evening (Wednesday, 03:00 CEST). The Mexicans drew both their matches against Inter Milan (1-1) and River Plate (0-0) and won their final group match 4-0 against Urawa Reds from Japan. Three goals were scored between the 30th and 39th minutes.
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On the flight back from Cincinnati to their base camp in Fort Lauderdale, the Borussia players watched the two games in the other group 'and then followed the final minutes of the game together in the hotel,' sporting director Sebastian Kehl told kicker: 'Now it's onto Monterrey on Tuesday evening in Atlanta, a team Borussia Dortmund have never played against before. We're up for it, we're taking on the challenge – and we're determined to progress to the next round.' Daniel Svensson believes the team can do it: 'We have to try to keep the tempo high throughout the game.' Given that Atlanta will have temperatures more akin to those in Europe, playing at the usual tempo shouldn't be a problem...
Boris Rupert
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All information about the Club World Cup (to the tickets, all matches live and free of charge on DAZN) can be found at bvb.de/cwc. The BVB app (click to download) will also keep all BVB fans up to date on events in the USA.
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