King Adeyemi balls out on Friday night as Dortmund win thriller #2305

Eliot Ben-Ner
The Football Hub
Published in
9 min readSep 17, 2024

Dortmund 4 Heidenheim 2

We’re here in Dortmund as Dortmund and Heidenheim meet where football around here is very much the culture and the attention of the city. Dortmund is the home to Westfalenpark a famous park of beautiful scenery an expensive park, a tourist destination, and a beautiful green forest in this region of Germany. Along with the Dortmund Zoo with so many different animals. The perfect way to spend any afternoon, the Florian Tower which overlooks the entire city. It may not be the most touristy city in Germany, but the city still has plenty to offer outside of the football. Dortmund is famous for being Europe’s densest cultural landscape with 1,000 industrial monuments, 200 museums, 250 festivals, 120 theatres and three musical theatres. Then on top of all that a very famous football in town with the German football museum not far away. It is also the home to Dortmund and Schalke. If you were to ask the locals, they would say, but the best part of Dortmund is where we are today: the historic Signal Iduna Park and the famous Yellow Wall. Dortmund hosts Heidenheim in a Friday night showdown. Dortmund's first two matches under new manager Sahin and hasn't exactly clicked the way they would have liked. They seem to have lacked an identity despite having the necessary tools with the acquisitions of rising Star Max Beier In the attack they also brought in Guirassy After a career year at Stuttgart. A fortunate victory against Frankfurt and then a goalless draw against Werder Bremen they have looked without a cohesive plan despite possessing Dortmund have been less than impressive so far. On the other side of the coin Heidenheim After losing three critical pieces from last season was expected to struggle. However, Paul Wanner has been the difference for them thus far. they currently sit on the top of the table with back-to-back victories to start the season as the 19-year-old will look to make the difference again here this evening against a Dortmund side that will be looking to finally figure themselves out in a big Friday At the Signal Iduna Park in Dortmund.

Dortmund looking to take this huge opportunity To get their start of the season back on track. Guirassy starts for the first time after having been out Frank Schmidt's side are not to be underestimated. Nuri Sahin switched it up a bit appearing from the start to have learned his lessons from the first two matches. Dortmund nearly broke through inside 4 minutes. In the third minute, Ramy Bensebaini drove a header towards the top corner but Kevin Muller came up with the save. Dortmund came on the offensive again, just a few minutes later. In the 6th minute Julian Ryerson supplies a well-timed pass for Pascal Gross As the midfielder follows through from distance it is well taken but drifts a little off track. Dortmund growing in confidence. In the 11th minute Donyell Malen makes a run into the box the ball is delivered in from the left side Karim Adeyemi The Dutchman then follows through from close range His strike takes a deflection off the goalkeeper as Kevin Muller. certainly should have done a better job with it as it finds the back of the net Dortmund take a 1-0 lead as they rip through Heidenheim In the opening 15 minutes as they thrive off of a rapid start. In the 17th minute they broke through again Heidenheim got dispossessed in Midfield Dortmund immediately got on the attack. It is run through Julian Brandt as he makes the interception before pushing the ball forward If then it's played back to him right around the box a one-touch pass opens up As he takes it into the back of the net from close range Dortmund off to the race is here taking a 2-0 lead. However, even in this position, this is the same deficit that Heidenheim came back from last season. No team in the Bundesliga last season took more points from losing positions than Heidenheim. In the 19th minute, Léo Scienza makes an effort from outside the box it is inevitably saved by Gregory Kobel However, a good effort from the Brazilian. 2 minutes later Marvin Pieringer facilitates him again Léo Scienza looks for the green light from outside the box. However, they simply weren't going away as they grew in confidence, even fighting at a deficit in the 24th minute Lennard Maloney supplies a headed pass in the space of Jonas Föhrenbach another swipe taken from distance but again well defended by Dortmund. The momentum slightly has fallen out of Dortmund's hands back into the visitors but Dortmund seemed to do a good job in handling the situation. The open chances started to dry up a little bit as Heidenheim instead of a pure volume of chances, was looking for high-quality In the 36th minute they got one on target Léo Scienza delivered a cross coming from the right side Marvin Pieringer got his head on the end of it as he drives it towards the post-Gregory Kobel Is there to make the save. In the 39th minute, Omar Traoré connects on a cross from the right side. it is driven into the box before finding Marvin Pieringer he connects on the header sending it into the roof of the net In front of the yellow wall Heidenheim has finally come to life. However, their moment in the sunshine wouldn't last very long in the 41st minute Julian Ryerson supplies an excellent through ball Karim Adeyemi inside the box a very well-taken strike as he propped it into the left corner. Dortmund now have opened up a 3-1 lead as they find themselves firmly in the driver's seat even after Heidenheim got a goal back Dortmund capitalized to look to avoid a collapse they saw in the reverse fixture. Dortmund held on to a comfortable 3-1 lead.

Nuri Sahin has found himself in a much better situation now. Good lineup choices that are paying off so far. Heidenheim Believe it or not aren't dead yet. They are capable of coming back Dortmund would keep their aggressiveness as they come out of the second half swinging. In the 49th minute, they very easily could have scored. Pascal Groß sends a cross into the box at the near post Serhou Guirassy makes a nice run as he tries to collect the ball but is unable to do it in a dangerous position had he caught it maybe a second earlier that could have been a huge opportunity for him to score his first goal in his new colors. In the 52nd minute Karim Adeyemi continually was being the orchestrator out wide as he facilitates Donyell Malan In the box unfortunately he puts a little too much on it from close range as it glides over. In the 58th minute, Paul Wanner looked to make something happen for Heidenheim finding Léo Scienza on the left side of the box although his goal attempt was deflected as Dortmund defensively found themselves in the right positions to deal with the attack again. There's no doubt the visitors have the capability of threatening them in front of the yellow wall. In the 59th minute Karim Adeyemi Leeds Dortmund through on the counter-attack facilitates a nice ball for Serhou Guirassy he tries to control it before sending it into the corner, but miss times it slightly as he misses the mark. It seemed as if Dortmund was just gliding towards the points. However, as we got into the later stages of the second half Heidenheim displayed a level of relentlessness. Leo Scienza found himself with a pair of chances as he got into a dangerous position before dealing with Dortmund. In the 67th minute Serhou Guirassy tries to put it away with a strike from close range. However, on this occasion, Kevin Muller comes up with the safe. the visitors weren't going away and a couple of minutes later they were going to find a way back into it. In the 74th minute, Mikkel Kaufmann Is taken down in the box. Dortmund protests the decision but the referee points to the penalty spot. Maximilian Breunig steps up sending it into the top right corner as they have minimized the deficit. The penalty from the former Freiburg man has perhaps given them a late push. It was now just a 3-2 deficit with a chance for the visitors to maybe find one more moment and still get something out of it. Dortmund all of a sudden was walking on eggshells. Heidenheim relentlessly drove it into their area trying to force them into a mistake or perhaps finding a moment on their own emission. In the 86th minute, Jonas Föhrenbach collects the ball in the box before lifting it towards the corner He misses the mark in the end as the possibility of a comeback starts to shrink. Dortmund nearly struck it in the 90th minute as a well-taken strike from Max Beier deflected just wide. However, the comeback certainly dried up as Heidenheim ended up being called for a handball in the box. A penalty was given to Dortmund in the '93rd minute. Emre Can calmly as you like splits it down the middle as Dortmund closes the deal on a 4-2 victory. a a very dramatic evening at signal Iduna Park As Dortmund pick up a big three points in front of the yellow wall in this Friday night to kick off the Bundesliga weekend.

Dortmund put together an excellent performance. although it ended up being a little chippy at the end with the possibility of a comeback on the table. They held firm and managed to swim through the difficult moments. I was highly critical of Nuri Sahin during his first two matches in charge. In the opener, he put together an unconventional lineup that didn't make any sense. He was then bailed out by a substitute. Then last time out took a goalless draw while being outplayed by Bremen It looked as if they had no identity whatsoever. Particularly not using Julian Brandt effectively regardless of the system or the situation, the most effective way to maximize Dortmund is to play through Julian Brandt. He is a top-three player in the league. He also is the reason they made a Champions League final and almost won the title a few years ago. If not for Julian Brandt neither of those events would have taken place. However on Friday night, he figured it out with his full team available, he maximized his team and they looked strong from the very beginning. It's not as if the visitors were poor, but Dortmund collectively through the 90 minutes that we saw on Friday night was excellent. They had a plan in place. he was able to capitalize and made some adjustments that showed Dortmund in a different light. The first two matches had no organization and no plan. However, on Friday he figured it out as he put together his team in the right way at home. It was a very strong showing by Dortmund and the coach managed to make the right adjustments and figure out the identity to his team a little more. He relied on Karim Adeyemi As he had two goals and an assist in what was a terrific performance overall. he showed his faith starting him yet again after putting him up front in the first match. Heidenheim didn't have their best showing but managed to battle from behind twice. Paul Wanner didn't have his best performance and he couldn't keep the goal-scoring streak alive. however, they certainly made Dortmund look for it, especially after they scored their second goal. They had a good 10 minutes in which they were dominating the ball getting it into the attacking areas. they just couldn't find a way to capitalize. They've played pretty well they made a few mistakes early on, but the biggest issue for them this evening was their inability to find the Target. Only on a very few occasions did they manage to do so. Most of the chances that they created were dealt with by the Dortmund defense or took deflections off of the back line. they need a little bit of sharpness in front of gold. if they can figure that out. They could have a reasonably successful seasoning. It wasn't in the cards to pull off yet another comeback against Dortmund as in this case, Dortmund overcame Heidenheim In a five goal thriller Dortmund picking up a 3-2 victory in front of the yellow wall.

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