Borussia Dortmund manager Niko Kovac was upbeat in the face of massive backlash following his side's 1-0 loss to Cerezo Osaka, saying it was a 'good test' for the young guns in the squad.
The BVB have indeed brought a team of mostly young players from the academy and their new signings, all of whom are 18 or below.
With none of the 2026 FIFA World Cup star returning to the field (although have few of them are currently with the squad in Japan), the side has been lacking in their usual cohesion.
It was once again on display in Osaka today as Solomon Sakuragawa's eighth-minute strike condemned Dortmund to a second consecutive preseason defeat.
Kovac, though, attempted to downplay the situation by indicating it's just a rag-tag group of inexperienced players and not their actual squad, which is missing in many of their first-teamers, especially those who were active at the World Cup.
"“It was a good test for the young team. The lads won’t be playing together in this lineup all that often. That’s just how it is during preseason after a major tournament. The national team players are joining us one after another.""said the Croatian after the match
Dortmund finished the game with just one shot on target despite a 56% ball possession and laying over 100 passes more than Osaka.
Although it's only a friendly, fans were disappointed to see a lack of ambition from the squad while Kovac credited his players formatching Osaka in terms of physicality.
""Still, you never want to lose games, no matter the circumstances. Nevertheless, I have to give the team credit today. Physically, they held their own; in terms of play, we still have room for improvement.""added Kovac
On Filippo Mane injury
In the 35th minute, Dortmund's evening went from bad to worse after Filippo Mane went off with an apparent injury and was replaced by Jan-Luca Riedl with the scoreline 1-0 in favor of Cerezo Osaka.
However, Kovac later allayed all fears of an injury by saying it was merely a cautionary substitution after the player himself foreshadowed a potential injury.
""Substituting Filippo Mane was a precautionary measure. He came off because he thought something might happen, and that was the right call.” "said the Dortmund manager
Borussia Dortmund play their second and final match of the BVB Evonik Japan Tour on 1 August against FC Tokyo in Tokyo.
Add us as a preferred source on Google