Coach Jan Siewert and his charges set out for the Tyrolean municipality of Kirchberg, located over 700 kilometres away, in the early hours of the morning. Having completed their first training sessions (in Brackel) and friendlies, the squad will use the next days to fine-tune their preparations for the start of the Regionalliga season at the end of the month.

Jan Siewert is looking forward to an intense few days in Austria. "As regards content, we'll work a lot on tactical matters. We have 16 new players, so it is important for us to start internalising our approach in the final third and what runs we'll make as soon as possible. Shooting and scoring will be a component of the training camp too." It was clear from the match against Herne that the young Black & Yellows are adopting an offensive approach to their games. Their opponents might feel fortunate that the scores were still locked at 1-1 at the end of 90 minutes, given that the BVB youngsters could have raced into a 4-0 lead in the opening 45 minutes. But there is still some time before the new season in which to get the lads firing on all cylinders in front of goal.

"I'm very happy with the physical condition of my team," said Siewert, adding: "We're not quite where we want to be yet on a footballing level, but that's normal. What I'm particularly happy to see is how quickly the team is finding its feet. Over half of the players are new additions, but I can already see something is coming together. The atmosphere and the mood in the changing rooms are super. If we can transfer this harmony onto the pitch, then I'll be very happy."

In addition to their intense training sessions, two friendlies lie in wait for the U23s during their training camp. The first of those will take place on Saturday, when they take on Austrian Bundesliga side SV Grödig. Then, next Thursday, the Black & Yellows will square off against German second-tier outfit MSV Duisburg.
Timo Lammert