By Rich

Mahmoud Dahoud is a 22-year-old midfielder for Borussia Dortmund.  Dahoud was born on January 1, 1996 in Amuda, Syria and was taken as an infant by his family to Germany the same year.  He spent his youth career playing for SC Germania Reusrath, Fortuna Düsseldorf, and Borussia Mönchengladbach.  Dahoud made his senior debut for Gladbach on August 27, 2014 in a Europa League playoff win over FK Sarajevo, when he came off the bench in the 55th minute to replace Christoph Kramer.  He went on to make a total of 61 appearances for Gladbach before joining Borussia Dortmund on July 1, 2017.  Dahoud has also appeared for Germany’s U18, U19, and U21 squads.

By Rich

Opposing teams of one of the Bundesliga’s biggest rivalries meet again on Saturday when FC Bayern München hosts Borussia Dortmund in the Allianz Arena on Saturday.  Much is at stake in this match on Saturday.  If FC Schalke 04 fail to either tie or win their home match against Freiburg earlier in the day and if Bayern defeat Dortmund, Bayern will become the league’s champions for the first time at home since the year 2000.  In addition, Bayern striker Robert Lewandowski has scored 23 goals so far this season and is likely to win the Torjägerkanone for the 3rd time.  Lewandowski has scored 7 goals against Dortmund since joining Bayern from Dortmund in 2014.  Dortmund coach Peter Stöger, however, is determined not to have his unbeaten streak broken since taking the helm at Dortmund following his departure from league bottom-dweller 1. FC Köln.  His efforts have been strengthened by Belgian striker Michy Batshuayi, who with 6 Bundesliga goals since his arrival from Chelsea is Dortmund’s top scorer of 2018.  Stöger may be without Marco Reus, who has been contending with adductor problems since his team’s UEFA Europa League loss to Red Bull Salzburg, and did not play in the last league match against Hannover 96.  Also likely absent will be Ömer Toprak, Shinji Kagawa, and Andriy Yarmolenko.  Bayern, for its part, may regain the services of Arjen Robben, who trained with the club this week.  Bayern’s standout goaltender, Manuel Neuer, also returned to training for the first time since fracturing his left foot back in September.  Elsewhere in the 1. Bundesliga this weekend, RB Leipzig will travel to Hannover on Saturday.  A win could push Leipzig back up into 4th place and a position in next week’s UEFA Europa League quarterfinal, and an important contest in the club’s Matchday 29 encounter with Bayer Leverkusen.  Hannover has struggled in recent weeks and are the only team in the Bundesliga to have lost their last 4 matches, while Leipzig’s Timo Werner has scored in each of his last 3 Bundesliga matches against Hannover, and RB Leipzig are unbeaten in their last 5 contests.  Hamburg, the only original 1. Bundesliga club to have never been relegated, will travel to Stuttgart on Saturday, and their hopes of avoiding their first-ever relegation are dimming.  Stuttgart are unbeaten in their last 7 Bundesliga matches, while Hamburg are without a win in their last 14 Bundesliga encounters.  While Hamburg have now slipped to last place, Stuttgart have climbed to 8th place, their best position so far this season.  Looking ahead to Sunday, Mainz face a critical match against Gladbach:  Mainz are sitting precariously in top relegation spot, and are behind Wolfsburg only on goal differential.

By Rich

​Justin Möbius is a 20-year-old midfielder for VfL Wolfsburg. Möbius was born on April 21, 1997 in Berlin, Germany and spent his youth career playing for BFC Dynamo, Hertha BSC, Tennis Borussia Berlin, and the academy system at VfL Wolfsburg from 2011 to 2016. His senior career began in 2016 when he was called up to Wolfsburg’s reserve squad, where he made his professional debut on July 30, 2016 in a Regionalliga Nord match against ETSV Weiche, replacing Bruno Henrique and playing for 60 minutes. He has also appeared for Wolfsburg’s 1. Bundesliga squad, and in 2011 played for Germany’s U15 squad

By Rich

​Stuttgart picked up a valuable 3 points on Friday with a 2:1 victory over hosts Freiburg, and the win momentarily moved Stuttgart from the bottom half of the table to the top half going into Saturday’s matches. Stuttgart took the lead early in the match when Mario Gomez headed the ball into the net off a free kick from Dennis Aogo. The hosts were finally able to tie the match in the 2nd half with a goal from Nils Petersen in the 53rd minute, but Mario Gomez struck again in the 75th minute off a cross from Andreas Beck. Gomez has scored 6 goals in 10 matches since returning to Stuttgart from Wolfsburg, all of them in away matches, and Stuttgart coach Tayfun Korkut is undefeated since being appointed to that position. Freiburg remains just out of the relegation zone thanks in part to the scoring prowess of Nils Petersen, who scored Freiburg’s 750th goal in the 1. Bundesliga and is the top-scoring German in the Bundesliga. Borussia Dortmund standout Marco Reus was skipped over for Germany’s 26-man squad to play against Spain and Brazil later this month. Reus picked up a groin strain on Thursday, and Germany coach Joachim Löw decided not to put any further pressure on him. Also not selected was BVB teammate Mario Götze, who scored the winning goal against Argentina in the 2014 World Cup. Löw will announce his provisional World Cup squad on May 15th. The biggest match on Saturday takes place when Hoffenheim travel to Mönchengladbach, looking for a win that could put them back into the league’s top 6 teams for the first time since December. Just 3 points separate the 2 clubs in the table, although Gladbach is struggling with numerous injuries. Among those injured is Christoph Kramer, who has a knee problem but may be played anyway given the other absences. Gladbach have conceded 6 defeats since the 2nd half of the season began. Looking ahead to Sunday, Leipzig will host Bayern, and Bayern could pick up their 6th straight Bundesliga title if they win the match and both Dortmund and Schalke not win their matches. The odds are in Bayern’s favor to win, as Leipzig have not win in their last 4 Bundesliga contests, Leipzig striker Timo Werner has not scored in his last 7 matches, and Leipzig have not defeated Bayern in their last 4 meetups. Dortmund may be picking up a new player soon: 8-time Olympic champion Usain Bolt, who will be training with the team during the upcoming international break