The international break is over and preparations for the next third division game started last Tuesday. Coach Enrico Maaßen's U23s face Eintracht Braunschweig at 14:00 CET on Saturday and can consolidate their place with the league's leaders with a win. 

Braunschweig were relegated from the Bundesliga's second division last season and currently sit at eighth in the third division table on 17 points. Despite a bumpy start, with a draw and a defeat in their first two games, coach Michael Schiele's team looked on the up, winning four of their subsequent five games and drawing the other. It was only in recent weeks that the engine started to splutter again. In their last four games, Eintracht have drawn three and lost the other. However, they have not lost touch with the top teams, given how close the league is. The gap to second-placed BVB is only three points.        

Eintracht Braunschweig have a young team (an average age of 24.9) that is peppered with some experienced players. Goalkeeper and captain Jasmin Fejzic, Jannis Nikolaou, and Benjamin Girth deserve a special mention. New to Eintracht this season is also attacker Enrique Pena Zauner. The 21-year-old played for BVB for three years in the U17s and U19s before moving to SV Sandhausen in Lower Saxony. Pena Zauner became a German A Youth Champion with Borussia Dortmund.        

The last meeting between these two teams was a little while ago. On 19 December 2009, the U23s beat Braunschweig 2-1 under the leadership of Theo Schneider. Julian Koch and Sebastian Tyrala scored the goals for BVB.       

Saturday's game will be shown live by WDR and NDR. The broadcast will begin with kick-off at 14:00 CET.