BVBLA August 2023

The start of the season almost seems anticlimactic after San Diego and Las Vegas. Some of us were hosting Dortmund in Southern California for the second time, but many more had their first experience of Dortmund in the USA.

But On To Bundesliga

19.08 Sat Dortmund vs FC Köln – 9:30am, ESPN+ and LA Draught in Santa Monica.

Topspiel first week at home is the perfect situation. First team is healthy, except…Adeyemi is doubtful. Köln is (believe it or not) having more injury problems than us, including obvious starters like Ljubicic and Hübers. This should be good.

26.08 Sat VfL Bochum vs Dortmund – 6:30am, ESPN+

This is as close as we get to a Derby nowadays, so I guess we make the most of it.

31.08 2023/24- 9am – Champions League group stage draw – Details Here

You’ll all want to see who we get. There are some weaklings in Pot 1 that could really help us out.

It All Comes Down To…



Must Win, Must Watch!OMG! Can’t sleep, going crazy, hitting Reddit and Facebook hourly to find out what’s happening! Is Jude OK? Will Reus start? As a fan since 2014, I can’t remember anything like this, because I wasn’t watching in 2012.

Imagine Reus and Hummels holding up the Meisterschale! I’m not sure my heart can take it.Of course, we’re all meeting up for this one. 6:30am, get some coffee, join the crowd, be a part of it!

Saturday, May 27, 6:30am
LA Draught
3021 Lincoln Blvd
Santa Monica, CA 90405










March Madness – Join The Party

Out of Champions League, disappointing result in the Derby. Keeping tabs on who’s injured and who’s not. After 10 straight victories, setting new records, it’s back down to earth again.

Long time fans will recognize this roller coaster of emotions as a typical Rückrunde, but here’s the difference: The team seems to have fixed a lot of its issues this year (defense, set pieces, mentality) and the Coach is not in danger of losing his job.

With that in mind, we are still looking at three meet-ups in a row. That too is probably a record. So after the Derby, two more big weekends.

Borussia Dortmund vs Köln – March 18 at 10:30am @ LA Draught

You may remember our sad showing in Köln last October. Alexander Meyer started, along with Anthony Modeste. Brandt scored our single goal. Tigges put the game away for Köln. This time may be very different. Haller is up front, and Kobel should be back. Reus should also be back.

Köln is sitting at 12th in the table coming off a 2-0 defeat to Bochum. They are not having a good year. Will this match put us back on winning ways?

Bayern München vs Borussia Dortmund – April 1 at 9:30am @ LA Draught

I can’t say I like the Der Klassiker title added to this match, but if it generates more interest in the Bundesliga… If you remember back to the Hinrunde, we played them to a 2-2 draw with Anthony Modeste supplying a miracle header for the tie.

I won’t make any predictions this time around, but I will say that if Adeyemi, Brandt, Kobel and Reus are all healthy, we can go toe to toe with the current Bayern team.

LA Draught

3021 Lincoln Blvd
Santa Monica, CA 90405

Phone: 310-919-1221

March 2023 – Is This Finally Our Year?

Nine games in a row. A new record! Games won in league, a game won in the Pokal and a first leg match won in UCL. All good in January and February. The future looks bright!

The downside is, we had an easy schedule in February with Bochum, Hertha and Hoffenheim. March is more daunting.

  • Mar 03, 11:30am, Fri: Borussia Dortmund vs RasenBall (BUN22)
  • Mar 07, 12pm, Tue: Chelsea vs Borussia Dortmund (UCL)
  • Mar 11, 9:30am, Sat: Sch*lke vs Borussia Dortmund (BUN23)
  • Mar 18, 10:30am, Sat: Borussia Dortmund vs Köln (BUN24)

When Karim Adeyemi went down for a minimum two weeks, there was a lot of gloom. He was the star against Chelsea for one shining moment. We heard “Here it comes again! Injuries!”

But really, our injury list is tiny compared to previous years and even the first half of the season. Our defense has solidified, our pressing is organized. Forward play looks pretty again, with smooth and delicious movement into the box. Since Can has come back to the midfield together with Özcan, we have a steel curtain look.

None of this is by accident. This is the team that Edin has been working for, but never had the healthy players to implement. This team has turned a corner.

In March we will have the rare opportunity to meet up three times in a row. (OK, that includes April 1 versus Bayern). March 11 is our second leg Derby against the Baby Blues. March 18 versus Köln is at a reasonable 10:30am.

The Bayern Match is still TBA, but it’s hard to believe that it won’t be the feature match of the day. Stay tuned.

Dortmund at Bayern! Match of The Year!

 

This is it. It’s all come down to this. The incredible start, the nine point lead, the injuries and disappointments. We were knocked out of Pokal, finally pushed out of the Champion’s League, but here we are, still standing and ready to prove it.

Join us at the Red Lion Tavern on Saturday, April 6 at 9:30am.

The Red Lion Tavern
2366 Glendale Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90039
323-662-5337

Get there early to get a Raffle ticket. Grand Prize was signed by every member of the USA Touring Team of 2018.

Der Klassiker Finally Lives Up To The Name

Borussia Dortmund vs. FC Bayern
Saturday, Nov 10, 9:30am

Red Lion Tavern
2366 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90039

Old World (Orange County)
7561 Center Ave. #49
Huntington Beach, CA 92647

What a perfect event. First time at the Red Lion, filled the place up and then: Reus, Reus, Paco for the 3:2 beatdown!

Special thanks to GABA Southern California and to Warsteiner Beer for the promotions. We’ll do it again soon.

Christmas Party in Dortmund

We’ve gotten this note from Dortmund:

“we are pleased to be able to invite all Fanclubs to the traditional Christmas Party this year.”

on: Monday, 3 December 2018
from: 18:00 CET (admittance from 16:00 CET)
in: the stadium

I must point out that this is for two Club Members and you have to fly yourself to Dortmund, but…if anyone was planning on being in the area on Monday, Dec 3, let me know ASAP.

For those of you stuck in LA around that time, let me know if we should schedule a Christmas Party here. Sounds like fun.

Thanks all! Hope to see you soon.

Rückrunde Begins

First Match of the Rückrunde Tomorrow

Whether you’ve been paying attention or not, it’s time to get behind Borussia Dortmund again. The first match of the Rückrunde will be away against Borussia Mönchengladbach. We’ll be hosting a get-together tomorrow morning, 9:30am, at the Cock ‘n’ Bull in Santa Monica at 2947 Lincoln Blvd. If you can’t make it down to SM, you can watch the match on Fox Sports 2.

Gladbach is arguably the most dangerous team in the Bundesliga right now. After a slow start, they’ve been climbing the rankings and now are set at #4.

BVB News

Not a lot to report from the Winter break. Many see that as a good thing. Ilkay is not going to Manchester, Papa is not going to Liverpool, Ramos is not going to China. Miki wants to stay and Dortmund put a 70M price tag on Auba.

Jonas Hofmann was sold to Gladbach for an exorbitant fee. Adman Januzaj was taken back from loan by Man U. Passlack and Pulisic were brought up to the first team, but no idea if they will see any time on the pitch.

Birthdays

Big week for Birthdays: Ramos, Schmelle, Bonmann and…Miki!

 

ramos-smelle

Hendrik_Bonmann

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bonus interview with Miki in English!

 

Huge Turnout Leads to Best Saturday Ever!

With Gladbach destroying Bayern, the day was already started on a happy note. Most of us had been up early to watch and we were revved up for Wolfsburg. But how would the team react? Five starters out with the flu. Wolfsburg undefeated at home for 29 matches. Optimism was hard to come by.

wolfsburg_suboticOf course, Tuchel had it all worked out. The CB combination of Subotic and Bender were up to the task, and the usual possession game was thrown out in favor of a constant midfield press.

Still, our bad luck streak seemed to continue: from the crossbar hit on Ilkay’s free kick right up to a soft penalty call at the 90th minute. It felt like things could not go our way until a completely “against the run of play” pass from Miki to Shiji in the last minute. The curse of the away jerseys is broken!

Thanks to everyone who turned up. Our biggest turnout yet in Santa Monica. See you all next week for Frankfurt.

kagawa_12-5

 

 

We Did It! Revierderby Meetup in Santa Monica Leads to Victory!

The biggest match of the season so far. The biggest Derby in the world. We all had to get up and out for a 6:30am meetup at The Cock ‘n’ Bull in Santa Monica. Best showing ever!

Group Photo
Front: Bill, Marion, Christine, Brian Back: Armen, Lukas, Joseph and a friendly Liverpool fan.

I told Marion that I was going for a Kloppo 2014 look lately. She brouderby_hat_editght me a hat from the BVB shop in Dortmund. Still haven’t gotten the glasses just right, but someday…

derby_car

 

Marion also arrived in the winning vehicle of all time, The most beautiful BMW I have ever seen. This car outclassed anything in the parking lot.

As for the match: more excitement than was needed. Ginter to Kagawa was magic. Ginter header was unstoppable. Auba Batman Goal came at exactly the right time. This was a Derby to remember.

Breakfast
Breakfasts going cold after Herne-West tie it up.

Also being celebrated was Armen’s birthday from Saturday. What better celebration than a morning Guinness while Auba scores the winning Goal.

Guinness
OK, we’re going to win this thing. Can concentrate on beer for a moment.

We’ll be back again in two weeks. Stay tuned. Sign up here or follow us on Facebook or Twitter.