With the Bundesliga season just a fixture old, the international break comes at an odd time for the clubs.
Borussia Dortmund manager Jurgen Klopp didn’t hold back in expressing his displeasure for the break that served only to house friendlies.
”You get used to it, even though this date of the international match was totally useless one week after the first match,” Klopp said. “That is why in the future it won’t be there anymore.”
He noted that training with so few players was incredibly difficult.
“We still had six players because Miki (Henrikh Mkhitaryan) and Robert (Lewandowski) stayed and then Owo (free agent Patrick Owomoyela) came as guest player, so it was seven. We could fill the rest with amateurs, even though many of them haven’t been here either. It worked well though. A disadvantage though, is that you cannot do anything tactical as a team. But I count on the long-term memory of my players.”
Dortmund has had a pretty good start to the season, so it’s understandable also that Klopp is just frustrated that their early good form may be interrupted. They defeated bitter rivals Bayern Munich 4-2 for the German Super Cup, and then spanked FC Augsburg 4-0 on the road to earn their first three Bundesliga points of the new season.
The international break is also a bit difficult for Premier League squads, given players like Jozy Altidore played for the United States on Wednesday, and then have to immediately return for their club’s first match of the season on Saturday or Sunday.
