- Title: Hertha Berlin and Borussia Dortmund prep for Bundesliga tussle
- Date: 13th October 2016
- Summary: DORTMUND, GERMANY (OCTOBER 12, 2016) (REUTERS) TRAINING PITCH WINGER EMRE MOR DRIBBLING PLAYERS TRAINING STRIKER PIERRE-EMERICK AUBAMEYANG (PINK BOOTS) DRIBBLING PLAYERS TRAINING COACH THOMAS TUCHEL ARRIVING DORTMUND, GERMANY (OCTOBER 13, 2016) (REUTERS) COACH THOMAS TUCHEL ARRIVING TO NEWS CONFERENCE BORUSSIA DORTMOND LOGO (SOUNDBITE) (German) BORUSSIA DORTMUND COACH, THOMAS TUCHEL, SAYING: "I expect a very tight Hertha, I expect a tactically extremely disciplined Hertha. It is unbelievably hard to play out scoring chances against Hertha, and we will be very patient, paired with tenacity, and nonetheless need a high tempo to come up with scoring success, to pull the game to our side." DORTMUND, GERMANY (OCTOBER 12, 2016) (REUTERS) PLAYERS RUNNING AUBAMEYANG UND STRIKER OUSMANE DEMBELE RUNNING DRILL DEMBELE DURING DRILL PLAYERS TRAINING COACHES KICKING BALL BACK AND FORTH, DEMBELE KICKING BALL IN BACKGROUND LEFT BACK MARCEL SCHMELZER (MIDDLE) DURING DRILL PLAYERS TRAINING AUBAMEYANG TRAINING DORTMUND, GERMANY (OCTOBER 13, 2016) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (German) BORUSSIA DORTMUND COACH, THOMAS TUCHEL, SAYING (ON RECENT COMMENTS THAT THE TEAM HAS BEEN VICTIM TO TOO MANY FOULS IN GAMES LATELY): "We will under no circumstances change our style, we will under no circumstances attempt to counter this, and for me right now it's about disproportion. We all know that there are games where it's normal that both teams have 15 or 16 fouls, because there's push and shove, it's aggressive, and no wants to stand back and no one wants to somehow bar the other team from playing hard against them. That's okay." DORTMUND, GERMANY (OCTOBER 12, 2016) (REUTERS) MIDFIELDER JULIAN WEIGL DURING TRAINING COACHES OBSERVING TRAINING PITCH BERLIN, GERMANY (OCTOBER 12, 2016) (REUTERS) VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF HERTHA CLUB BUILDING NEWS CONFERENCE WALL PAINTING OF HERTHA FLAG (SOUNDBITE) (German) HERTHA BERLIN COACH, PAL DARDAI, SAYING: "I believe that we must first enjoy the entire atmosphere if we're going against Dortmund. I think we have a bit more of a chance than against Bayern Munich, if you look before and plan with the analysis. The only thing that's not good, which I don't like, is that the entire team wasn't here. We couldn't train a lot of automatisms together. With that is the massive stress that today many players are arriving and tomorrow it goes on. It's not easy and should not be underestimated. I believe though that we are well prepared and we will try anyway to go to the limit." HERTHA FLAG LOGO NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (German) HERTHA BERLIN COACH, PAL DARDAI, SAYING: "We will try to bring the team together so that we are in good shape for the day. If we have that, then we can do a lot. Our goal is to present ourselves over there so that we can stay in front of Dortmund after the game. That means one point, minimum." NEWS CONFERENCE
- Embargoed: 28th October 2016 15:14
- Keywords: Dardai Tuchel Bundesliga Borussia Dortmund Hertha Berlin
- Location: DORTMUND & BERLIN, GERMANY
- City: DORTMUND & BERLIN, GERMANY
- Country: Germany
- Topics: Soccer,Sport
- Reuters ID: LVA00153U7JGF
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Borussia Dortmund and Hertha Berlin's coaches both said they were anxiously awaited Friday (October 14)'s upcoming Bundesliga game, neither expecting an easy go of it.
Third-placed Borussia Dortmund may have home advantage, but will be missing 10 members of their squad while hosting second-placed Hertha Berlin.
"I expect a very tight Hertha, I expect a tactically extremely disciplined Hertha. It is unbelievably hard to play out scoring chances against Hertha, and we will be very patient, paired with tenacity, and nonetheless need a high tempo to come up with scoring success, to pull the game to our side," coach Thomas Tuchel said.
Tuchel's is have to deal with several injured players, including defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos and midfielder Raphael Guerreiro. However, rising stars like attackers Ousmane Dembele and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang may still help Dortmund come through.
Hertha Berlin come into the match with just one league defeat in six matches, a 3-0 loss to Bayern Munich last month, but coach Pal Dardi was concerned that the international break, which involved nine of his players, had disrupted his preparations for Friday's match.
"The only thing that's not good, which I don't like, is that the entire team wasn't here. We couldn't train a lot of automatisms together. With that is the massive stress that today many players are arriving and tomorrow it goes on. It's not easy and should not be underestimated. I believe though that we are well prepared and we will try anyway to go to the limit."
The teams meet at Dortmund's Signal Iduna Park on Friday at 1830 GMT. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2016. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None