Pre-season: Dortmund 1 - 1 Spurs
Dimitar Berbatov scored the goal that secured a share of the spoils against Borussia Dortmund on Saturday afternoon.
The striker struck two minutes before the break to level the scores after Alexander Frei shot the home side into the lead from a free-kick that narrowly beat the returning Paul Robinson.
The hugely imposing Westfalenstadion - known also as Signal Iduna Park - was quite a spectacular sight. Set in the industrial heartland of Dortmund, the arena holds 80,000 with the terrace behind the goal - known as 'The Wall' having a capacity of 20,000-plus people.
Word before the game suggested that the football passionate public of Dortmund would attend this contest in numbers reaching 50,000 and, even though it was a friendly, The Wall was pretty much full and in good voice - generating quite an atmosphere.
Martin drafted his World Cup players back into the First Team fold, with Robinson joined by Lee Young-Pyo, Didier Zokora, Jermaine Jenas and Aaron Lennon in starting the game. Robbie Keane and Berbatov were given the chance to fine tune their strike partnership, while there was a place for Danny Murphy on the left of midfield.
Dortmund are a week ahead in terms of preparations as the Bundesliga begins next weekend and the German version of the Community Shield takes place this evening between Bayern Munich and Werder Bremen.
You'll Never Walk Alone boomed around the stadium just before the teams emerged to be greeting by a sea of bright yellow. A league game here must be quite something...
Lee operated from right back in this game, with Benoit Assou-Ekotto continuing to quietly impress on the left side in what was a sluggish start to the meeting, with the home side content to retain possession and build slowly and patiently from the back and across and through the middle.
Robinson received a spot of early treatment after colliding with Calum Davenport while trying to make contact with the ball from a corner, but all was well with England's No.1 who was enjoying his first time on the pitch since England's penalty defeat to Portugal not far away in Gelsenkirchen.
He was soon called into action to expertly tip over a powerful strike by Nelson Valdez and shortly afterwards diverting a goalbound cross from Steven Pienaar over the bar.
On 16 minutes the ball was in the Dortmund net when a free-kick - which was not actually targeting goal - from Murphy sailed through everyone and inside Weidenfeller's left hand post. It did not result in the lead being taken due to an offside decision against Assou-Ekotto.
Jenas flighted a free-kick just over the bar before Lennon then came into play and threaded the ball into the area and in the path of Keane. The striker chipped his effort from a tight angle and was unfortunate to only find the side netting.
The lads were bossing the game and managed to increase the tempo, while quieting the home crowd - it was the bank of travelling Spurs fans, a good few hundred, making the din at this point.
Dortmund nearly managed to punish us on the counter-attack when Valdez broke and played in Frei. The Swiss international striker was just about to pull the trigger when Michael Dawson stepped across and applied a vital block.
Frei had more luck on 36 minutes when he stepped up to take a free-kick from the edge of the area and his precision finish gave his side the lead with the ball squeezing just inside Robinson's left hand upright. It was certainly not a deserved deficit.
Murphy came close to cancelling out the arrears when he advanced and spotted Weidenfeller off his line, but lofted his shot just over bar.
On 43 minutes we were level when Berbatov advanced towards the left of the area and the Bulgarian cooly evaded his marker and dispatched the ball low past Weidenfeller with an excellent finish for his fourth goal of the pre-season campaign.
Both teams started the second half with an unchanged line-up and it was Dortmund who were quicker into their stride when Philipp Degan push forward down the right and planted a cross onto the head of Valdez, but the Paraguay international nodded wide with the target at his mercy.
German international David Odonkor made his entrance on 51 minutes to try and inject some pace down the Dortmund right flank before, six minutes later, Jermain Defoe took to the field in place of Lennon, with Reto Ziegler coming on for Muprhy.
Lee and Jenas made way a few minutes later as the World Cup players gradually took their exit and the match was slipping into pre-season mode before Keane nearly kicked it back into life when he did well to latch onto a loose ball inside the Dortmund area. With his back to goal, he lifted the ball over Weidenfeller but it landed on top of the crossbar and bounced to safety.
Wayne Routledge was soon on in place of Berbatov, with Tom Huddlestone taking over from Zokora in midfield for the final 14 minutes.
Robinson had to be brilliantly alert down to his left to deny substitute Ricken and Dortmund a likely winner on 84 minutes, not long after Keane fired high at the other end from a low Defoe centre.
The changes had disrupted the flow of what was an entertaining game and both sides will probably be satisfied with avoiding defeat ahead of the challenges that are looming fast.
The striker struck two minutes before the break to level the scores after Alexander Frei shot the home side into the lead from a free-kick that narrowly beat the returning Paul Robinson.
The hugely imposing Westfalenstadion - known also as Signal Iduna Park - was quite a spectacular sight. Set in the industrial heartland of Dortmund, the arena holds 80,000 with the terrace behind the goal - known as 'The Wall' having a capacity of 20,000-plus people.
Word before the game suggested that the football passionate public of Dortmund would attend this contest in numbers reaching 50,000 and, even though it was a friendly, The Wall was pretty much full and in good voice - generating quite an atmosphere.
Martin drafted his World Cup players back into the First Team fold, with Robinson joined by Lee Young-Pyo, Didier Zokora, Jermaine Jenas and Aaron Lennon in starting the game. Robbie Keane and Berbatov were given the chance to fine tune their strike partnership, while there was a place for Danny Murphy on the left of midfield.
Dortmund are a week ahead in terms of preparations as the Bundesliga begins next weekend and the German version of the Community Shield takes place this evening between Bayern Munich and Werder Bremen.
You'll Never Walk Alone boomed around the stadium just before the teams emerged to be greeting by a sea of bright yellow. A league game here must be quite something...
Lee operated from right back in this game, with Benoit Assou-Ekotto continuing to quietly impress on the left side in what was a sluggish start to the meeting, with the home side content to retain possession and build slowly and patiently from the back and across and through the middle.
Robinson received a spot of early treatment after colliding with Calum Davenport while trying to make contact with the ball from a corner, but all was well with England's No.1 who was enjoying his first time on the pitch since England's penalty defeat to Portugal not far away in Gelsenkirchen.
He was soon called into action to expertly tip over a powerful strike by Nelson Valdez and shortly afterwards diverting a goalbound cross from Steven Pienaar over the bar.
On 16 minutes the ball was in the Dortmund net when a free-kick - which was not actually targeting goal - from Murphy sailed through everyone and inside Weidenfeller's left hand post. It did not result in the lead being taken due to an offside decision against Assou-Ekotto.
Jenas flighted a free-kick just over the bar before Lennon then came into play and threaded the ball into the area and in the path of Keane. The striker chipped his effort from a tight angle and was unfortunate to only find the side netting.
The lads were bossing the game and managed to increase the tempo, while quieting the home crowd - it was the bank of travelling Spurs fans, a good few hundred, making the din at this point.
Dortmund nearly managed to punish us on the counter-attack when Valdez broke and played in Frei. The Swiss international striker was just about to pull the trigger when Michael Dawson stepped across and applied a vital block.
Frei had more luck on 36 minutes when he stepped up to take a free-kick from the edge of the area and his precision finish gave his side the lead with the ball squeezing just inside Robinson's left hand upright. It was certainly not a deserved deficit.
Murphy came close to cancelling out the arrears when he advanced and spotted Weidenfeller off his line, but lofted his shot just over bar.
On 43 minutes we were level when Berbatov advanced towards the left of the area and the Bulgarian cooly evaded his marker and dispatched the ball low past Weidenfeller with an excellent finish for his fourth goal of the pre-season campaign.
Both teams started the second half with an unchanged line-up and it was Dortmund who were quicker into their stride when Philipp Degan push forward down the right and planted a cross onto the head of Valdez, but the Paraguay international nodded wide with the target at his mercy.
German international David Odonkor made his entrance on 51 minutes to try and inject some pace down the Dortmund right flank before, six minutes later, Jermain Defoe took to the field in place of Lennon, with Reto Ziegler coming on for Muprhy.
Lee and Jenas made way a few minutes later as the World Cup players gradually took their exit and the match was slipping into pre-season mode before Keane nearly kicked it back into life when he did well to latch onto a loose ball inside the Dortmund area. With his back to goal, he lifted the ball over Weidenfeller but it landed on top of the crossbar and bounced to safety.
Wayne Routledge was soon on in place of Berbatov, with Tom Huddlestone taking over from Zokora in midfield for the final 14 minutes.
Robinson had to be brilliantly alert down to his left to deny substitute Ricken and Dortmund a likely winner on 84 minutes, not long after Keane fired high at the other end from a low Defoe centre.
The changes had disrupted the flow of what was an entertaining game and both sides will probably be satisfied with avoiding defeat ahead of the challenges that are looming fast.
posted by dgarden at 5:00 pm
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