Dortmund Beat Manchester United 3-2 Despite Defensive Shortcomings

Borussia Dortmund has completed the second stop of their US Tour with a 3-2 win against Manchester United in front of 50,857 spectators at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. Diogo Dalot (25’) and Anthony (52’) scored for Manchester United. Donyell Malen (43’ & 44’) and Youssoufa Moukoko (71’) scored the goals for Dortmund. Although an impressive turnout, the match, like it was the case against the San Diego Loyal, was not quite sold out.

Dortmund’s managing director Carsten Cramer has recently stated that Dortmund will have to be more proactive when it comes to engaging the US market. With that in mind, the Dortmund tour, which will continue in Chicago with a match against Chelsea on Aug. 2, must be considered as a very positive first step.

On the field, Dortmund head coach Edin Terzic cannot be satisfied with his side’s performances against San Diego Loyal and Manchester United, even if the head coach tried to downplay issues in the post-game press mixed zone.

“It was a good and very intense game,” Dortmund head coach Edin Terzic said after the game. “When you don’t close the center, it is very difficult to stop them. Despite them not having many clearcut chances, there are a few things that we didn’t like about the game. We didn’t have enough possession and made it too easy for them to attack us with a single striker.”

Once again, defensive issues were at the forefront, with Dortmund struggling with their buildup play and with individual mistakes that gave United plenty of chances to score. Unlike San Diego, however, Man United’s very experimental side had the quality to put away the chances provided by the Black and Yellows. The United goal was a great example as Diogo Dalot was given too much time and space to score from distance after a poor clearance following a United corner.

Man United’s dominance at the start with a relatively experimental side will provide Terzic with some headaches with just about two weeks to go until Dortmund starts the season in the DFB Pokal. The positive, however, was that, once again, Dortmund was incredibly effective in the attack. Completely silent for 43 minutes, Dortmund scored twice from just two attacks.

“Scoring goals is the last thing I am worried about,” Julian Brandt said as part of a media roundtable in San Diego just a few days ago. Brandt made the statement with the sort of face that indicated that there are some worries on the other end of the field, and both friendlies in the US have underlined some apparent deficits with the backline.

The flip side is that Dortmund, as indicated by Brandt, is more than capable of scoring goals. As was the case against San Diego, Dortmund needed just two structured attacking plays to turn the result on its head in the first half. A lead that was quickly equalized by Man United by yet another defensive mistake; this time, defender Mats Hummels failed to clear.

Thankfully for Hummels, though, Dortmund’s ability to just go up by one gear in the attack continued when Moukoko scored from a wonderful Reus assist. That goal was enough for Dortmund to win the game. But the result might be the most positive takeaway from the second friendly of Dortmund’s US Tour.

“It was a good test, and we are satisfied,” Terzic said. “We want to put it all in context of the time difference and the weather. Overall, I think the team has done a good job today against a very good opponent.”

Defensive, which was already the Achilles heel last season, still appears to be a work in progress. What remains to be seen is whether Terzic can solve the problem internally or whether sporting director Sebastian Kehl will have to add another piece to make Dortmund’s backline more sound in what is a season in which the club finally wants to end Bayern Munich’s dominance over the Bundesliga.

Manuel Veth is the host of the Bundesliga Gegenpressing Podcast and the Area Manager USA at Transfermarkt. He has also been published in the Guardian, Newsweek, Howler, Pro Soccer USA, and several other outlets. Follow him on Twitter: @ManuelVeth and on Threads: @manuveth