Borussia Dortmund Sporting Director Sebastian Kehl says Mamelodi Sundowns is a team with technical quality that will provide them an interesting challenge in the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup.
The Bundesliga outfit kick off their Group F campaign against Brazilian club Fluminense, before their clash against Mamelodi Sundowns and end off with K-League champions Ulsan HD.
Based at the headquarters of Inter Miami in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Kehl spoke exclusively to this website about their preparation, ambitions and what they think about Sundowns and African football, in general.
“We take this [tournament] very seriously, we had a great look at all our opponents in the next days but the first one is on Tuesday against Fluminense and of course we want to win this game,” Kehl told iDiski Times.
“To be in the tournament is really exciting, to start now and the first goal is to go through the group stage, so this is the most important thing afterwards we will see which opponents we will get but yeah, I’m quite confident, very interesting group.
“Different opponents, different strategies, different cultures but this is what the tournament is about and for that reason we’re very curious to start.”
The curiosity generally stems from preparing for three teams in one group from three different continents, South America, Africa and Asia with dominant sides in their respective leagues. But the former Germany and Dortmund midfielder appeared confident they can progress from the group as they look to make an impact at the global event in the United States of America.
Standing pitch side as head coach Niko Kovac and his technical team put the squad through their paces, it was a rather professional environment that typified the environment at the elite level of the game.
“We follow African football in general, there’s many good young players, even though we have restrictions to bring them to Germany, due to the age situation but they are very good, physically and skills – they are fast and it’s interesting,” he admiited.
“Many African players are making big impacts in Europe so for that reason we have a serious eye [on Africa], we send scouts to academies in Africa, to be close to the development and improvement of some players.
“We have different scouting ideas about that, we’re happy to play Sundowns, it’s a new challenge for us, we haven’t played a South African team for a long time.
“So it will be an interesting game, they are technically very good, they are a really good team. So we need to take care, but hopefully we can make it.”
Dortmund face Sundowns at the TQL Stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio on Saturday 21 June at 12pm (GMT+2).
