Santa Monica – BVBLA

BVBLA – October 2023

Bundesliga – Not exactly what I was expecting, but not bad at all. Bayern faltering, same for us. Leverkusen looking strong, but we’ll see. It’s going to be a long season, and we can only get stronger. Bayern Match is included below. No matter what day or time that match happens, I know we’ll all be at LA Draught for it.

Champions League – Beyond the Bundesliga, we have two “must show up” matches in UCL. Milan at home should tell us where we are at the moment, while away to Newcastle will confirm. We’ve been on an upswing since PSG, so I’m hoping for the best.

Pokal – Everyone was hoping for an interesting draw. Kaiserslautern? St. Pauli? Not to be this time around. It will be Hoffenheim at home on Halloween. At least something we know we can handle.

04.10 Wed Borussia Dortmund vs Milan – 12 noon, Paramount+

07.10 Sat Borussia Dortmund vs Union Berlin – 6:30am, ESPN+

20.10 Fri Borussia Dortmund vs Werder Bremen – 11:30pm, ESPN+

25.10 Wed – Newcastle United vs Borussia Dortmund – 12 noon, Paramount+

28.10 Sat Frankfurt vs Borussia Dortmund – TBA*, ESPN+

31.10 Tue Borussia Dortmund vs Hoffenheim – TBA*, ESPN+ POK

04.11 Sat Borussia Dortmund vs Bayern München – TBA, ESPN+

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…

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.