Niko Kovac appeared to be completely relaxed when he answered journalists' questions for the first time since September 19th. The Borussia Dortmund coach explained that he had spent the past two and a half weeks “in the home office”. But what annoys him is the fact that the international break that is coming to an end was anything but relaxing for most of his players: some of them had to play up to four games for their national teams.
"These four games were definitely too much for me. The break was too long. From the club's point of view, this is totally unacceptable," said Kovac. On the one hand, the professionals were thrown out of their rhythm after just four matches in the championship, and on the other hand, they were put under undue stress: during the international matches and the travel associated with them.
Kovac doesn't believe in the reorganization of the game calendar with only two international breaks in the second half of the year instead of the previous three, but with four games in the last week of September and the first week of October. "Three times two international matches, that would be the best solution. The players are away for ten days each, but then you have them back," said the 54-year-old.
Twenty BVB professionals have been on duty for their selection teams in the past few weeks - and some still are. In addition to the German senior national players Nico Schlotterbeck, Waldemar Anton and Felix Nmecha, Gregor Kobel (Switzerland), Julian Ryerson (Norway), Carney Chukwuemeka (Austria), Daniel Svensson (Sweden), Joey Veerman (Netherlands), Fabio Silva (Portugal), Konstantinos Karetsas (Greece), Samuele Inacio (Italy), Enzo dos Santos (Luxembourg), Serhou Guirassy (Guinea), Ramy Bensebaini (Algeria), Mathis Albert (USA), Jobe Bellingham, Ethan Nwaneri (both England), Joane Gadou (U21 France), Luca Reggiani (U21 Italy) and Kaua Prates (U20 Brazil) are sometimes traveling around the world. Training operations in Dortmund almost came to a complete standstill.
The Ryerson case is exemplary of the BVB dilemma
To make matters worse, several regular players returned from the national teams with injuries. Schlotterbeck, for example, suffered an ankle injury. He will probably miss the Bundesliga restart on Friday against Werder Bremen. The defense chief had just returned from a serious injury.
Chukwuemeka, on the other hand, returned to Dortmund with muscular problems. Karetsas and Svensson returned with colds. Bensebaini and Albert are not expected back until Thursday, the day before the Werder game.
The Ryerson case is an example of how little consideration the national associations have for the clubs. The Norwegian defender had to be substituted injured in the 2-1 Nations League loss to Portugal on September 27th, but was used again four days later against Wales, took a knock - and had to be taken off injured again. Ryerson may also have to pass against Werder.
Karetsas, in turn, played in all four of Greece's games in the Nations League - although Kovac had wanted less strain on the playmaker, who suffered a circulatory collapse in the Champions League game against Villarreal. He “played a little more than we imagined,” explained Kovac.
The coach of the Bundesliga leaders’ criticism is “not just about the sick and injured.” For two and a half weeks, his team “had no rhythm at all,” he said.
Kovac therefore urgently advocates returning to the old general calendar. "When you have to play four international matches, there is a lot of travel and the squads are relatively small. Germany did it differently now, but with all the other nations there was only a limited selection of players. Our players were on the move a lot," he explained. Kovac fears that BVB will feel the effects in the next four weeks with nine games in the Bundesliga, Champions League and DFB Cup.
And from a German perspective, the next international break is already looming large: the DFB team has to play the second leg of the Nations League in Belgrade on November 13th, and the duel against the Netherlands in Berlin is on November 16th.
