Pre-Match Report
Elversberg to Close Out BVB’s Busy Weeks: “We’re Ready and in Shape”
The scenario
A glance at the standings quickly reveals that the newly promoted team from the Saarland is arguably the biggest positive surprise of the current season. After eight Bundesliga matchdays, SV Elversberg sits in seventh place, having already won four games and scored a total of 16 goals. BVB, on the other hand, solidified its second-place standing with a 2-2 draw at Bayern Munich last Saturday and heads into the match against Elversberg still undefeated.
For Borussia, Saturday’s home game marks their ninth competitive match in a month. Following their strong performance in the 2-1 home win against Real Betis, the Black and Yellows are looking to secure another victory before the international break, as head coach Niko Kovac emphasized at Friday’s press conference.
“We’re coming off eight difficult games and have little time to recover. Nevertheless, the team is ready and in good shape,” Kovac made clear at the outset. For the Dortmund coach, it’s clear that the strong performances from recent games must absolutely be repeated against SV Elversberg: “The opponent is certainly more rested than we are. But we’re playing at home and want to successfully wrap up this cycle of nine games. We want to head into the international break with a very, very good result.”
Squad
Once again, BVB was forced to make an unexpected substitution against Real Betis after Serhou Guirassy had to leave the field after just under 30 minutes. Due to muscle problems, the center forward was unable to continue; he will definitely not be in the lineup against Elversberg.
“With his size, Serhou is missed on set pieces—both offensively and defensively. And, of course, because of the goals he’s already scored. But now the opportunity has come for those who haven’t seen as much playing time in recent weeks,” Kovac said regarding the absence of the Dortmund striker. He added: “We’re very versatile and have to make the best of what we have.”
Marcel Sabitzer is back in the BVB squad after recovering from an illness.
Opponent
SV Elversberg made a sensational debut in the first few weeks of its Bundesliga campaign in German soccer’s top flight. SVE won its first two games after promotion, beating Bayer Leverkusen 3–2 and Borussia Mönchengladbach 4–3 on the road. Head coach Vincent Wagner’s team thus temporarily catapulted itself to fourth place in the standings.
In the weeks that followed, the Bundesliga newcomer continued to impress with bold, attacking soccer, plenty of speed, and the sustained euphoria over promotion felt throughout an entire region. The newly promoted team has now collected 13 points over eight matchdays, firmly establishing itself in the upper mid-table.
“We take our opponent very, very seriously and are well aware of their capabilities,” Niko Kovac made clear, referring in particular to SVE’s offensive strengths. With 16 goals scored after eight matchdays, they have achieved nothing less than the best tally by a promoted team since TSG Hoffenheim 17 years ago (21).
To score that many goals, Elversberg needed just 82 shots on goal—the second-lowest total among all Bundesliga clubs. Conversely, this means that on Saturday, Borussia Dortmund will welcome the most efficient team of the current season to SIGNAL IDUNA PARK—a team that, according to Kovac, is also “certainly more rested than we are.”
An Entire Town on the Move
SV Elversberg has purchased the entire allocation of visitor tickets, which corresponds to just over 8,000 seats. Since the Elversberg district has a total population of only about 7,500, this creates a remarkable situation: numerically speaking, there will be more Elversberg fans in Dortmund than the Elversberg district of the municipality of Spiesen-Elversberg actually has residents.
This is a testament to the immense soccer euphoria prevailing in the Neunkirchen district, a point explicitly highlighted once again by SVE coach Vincent Wagner: “Hurrah, the whole community is here. That’s the new slogan being chanted. We’re a little proud of that. The fan base is growing—that’s a huge deal by our standards.”
8,000 away fans mark a new club record for the team, which was still chasing points in the fourth-tier Regionalliga just four and a half years ago.
Mats-Yannick Roth