Cologne vs. Borussia Dortmund: Team News, Preview, Live Stream, TV Info
1. FC Cologne host Borussia Dortmund on Bundesliga Matchday 17 in RheinEnergieStadion on Saturday. It's the final matchday of the calendar year in Germany, where the traditional winter break will bring a stop to the action for a month.
The Billy Goats are a true mid-table side: They've won five, lost five and drawn six in the Bundesliga this term. The form is trending in the wrong direction for head coach Peter Stoger and his team, however, as Cologne have only won twice since the start of October.
Last week, the Rhinelanders managed to salvage a point after going behind at Werder Bremen, ending a run of three games without a single goal. Overall, those have been hard to come by; Cologne have only scored 16 goals in the league so far and just three in their last nine matches across the league and DFB-Pokal.
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Dortmund, on the other hand, enter the match with the most prolific attack of the division with 46 goals. Unlike Saturday's hosts, the Black and Yellows played in midweek, beating an in-form Augsburg side 2-0 fairly impressively.
In Cologne, "BVB celebrated their highest ever away victories in 1996 and 2012 (6-1 both times)," noted the club's website. "They also racked up four consecutive wins there between 2009 and 2012, though they lost 2-1 there last season following Cologne's return to the top flight."
Date: Saturday, December 19
Time: 2.30 p.m. GMT/9.30 a.m. ET/3.30 p.m. local time
Venue: RheinEnergieStadion, Cologne
TV Info: FS2 (U.S. only)
Live Stream: Fox Soccer 2Go (U.S. only)
Form Guide
| Cologne | Dortmund |
| Leverkusen: Win (2-1) | Stuttgart: Win (4-1) |
| Mainz: Draw (0-0) | Wolfsburg: Win (2-1) |
| Darmstadt: Draw (0-0) | PAOK: Loss (1-0) |
| Augsburg: Loss (1-0) | Frankfurt: Win (4-1) |
| Bremen: Draw (1-1) | Augsburg: Win (2-0) |
Predicted Lineups
Cologne
Predicted starting XI: Horn; Olkowski, Maroh, Heintz, Hector; Risse, Lehmann, Gerhardt, Bittencourt; Osako, Zoller.
Former Dortmund player Leonardo Bittencourt is likely to return to the starting XI after missing his side's draw at Bremen with an infection. His replacement last time out, Dusan Svento, scored the equaliser, however, so it's not set in stone he'll be pushed to the bench. Bittencourt is the better player for counter-attacks, though.
Elsewhere, Kevin Vogt is questionable with a slight knock; his likely replacement would be 21-year-old Yannick Gerhardt, who's better on the ball but not as physical.
The big question is, who's starting up front? Anthony Modeste is their top goalscorer with six goals in the league, but the 27-year-old hasn't scored since a 3-0 win over Schalke on October 4 and was taken off the field at half-time against Bremen. Simon Zoller and Yuya Osako are shiftier, quicker players and could have some success against Dortmund's central defence, which lacks speed.
Dortmund
Predicted starting XI: Burki; Piszczek, Bender, Hummels, Schmelzer; Gundogan, Weigl, Kagawa; Castro, Aubameyang, Mkhitaryan.
Head coach Thomas Tuchel said before the cup tie with Augsburg there's a slight chance Marco Reus, who's suffering from adductor problems, might be able to make the squad against Cologne, but his inclusion seems like an unnecessary risk. In midweek, back-up striker Adrian Ramos started in Reus' place, but he didn't do enough to warrant a second consecutive start.
Shinji Kagawa will in all likelihood replace Reus this time, with Gonzalo Castro moving to the wing. This combination worked very well in the second half of the game against Eintracht Frankfurt.
Elsewhere, Tuchel might opt to rotate a bit, since it's the 29th game of the season for Dortmund and they had to play a difficult match on a soggy pitch in midweek. Matthias Ginter and Sokratis Papastathopoulos could start in place of Lukasz Piszczek and Sven Bender, for example.
Players to Watch
While Cologne are struggling to create at one end, their defence has been a real strength at the other. They have the fourth-best defensive record with 20 goals conceded (one fewer than Dortmund). Two batterings at the hands of Munich and Frankfurt accounted for half of those goals.
Cologne goalkeeper Timo Horn plays a large role in Cologne's stingy defence. He's saved his team a number of points this season already, never more so perhaps than in their most recent game at Bremen, in which he saved a penalty and thus kept his team in the match.
One man hoping to beat Horn is Henrikh Mkhitaryan. Dortmund's No. 10 has developed into a talisman for the Black and Yellows; his side have won all 15 Bundesliga games in which he's scored since making the move from Shakhtar Donetsk in 2013.
The Armenian is looking to close out an impressive first half of the season with a bang. He's had a hand in 33 goals in 27 appearances and leads his team with 10 assists in the Bundesliga so far. His performance in midweek earned him a perfect 10/10 rating from ESPN FC's Stefan Buczko.
Key Battle
Can the Right Side of Cologne's Defence Hold Up?
This is shaping up to be a fairly standard game of Bundesliga football for the visitors. They'll likely meet opponents that'll be happy to concede possession to them, will try to be aggressive around their own box and hit Dortmund on the counter whenever the Black and Yellows lose the ball in build-up play.
Cologne don't look like a side that's going to try and press Dortmund high up the pitch, especially not without Vogt.
If the game ends up looking like that, the Billy Goats will need a concentrated performance from everyone—especially the back line. If there is a weak spot in their defence, it is at right-back. Pawel Olkowski recently regained his spot in the starting XI after Marcel Risse, a winger by trade, had played in defence in the previous six Bundesliga games.
Both the Pole and the German are offensive-minded and quick but prone to make mistakes in positioning when the opponent has the ball. With in-form Mkhitaryan predominantly playing on the left in the absence of Reus, that area of the field looks like one the visitors could exploit regardless of whom Stoger selects.
Odds (via Odds Shark)
Cologne: 5-1
Draw: 7-2
Dortmund: 25-52
Lars Pollmann is a featured columnist writing on Borussia Dortmund. He also writes for Yellowwallpod.com. You can follow him on Twitter.
