Return after 469 days

On May 1, 2021, around ten o’clock in the evening, the world of Borussia Dortmund comes to a standstill for a brief moment. The DFB Cup semi-finals against second division team Holstein Kiel have long since been decided 5-0. Then, in what was effectively an innocuous duel, right-back Mateu Morey Bauzà, who had been substituted just twelve minutes earlier, made a wrong move, hypertensing his right knee – and almost all the ligaments were torn . The young Spaniard’s cries of pain echoed in the empty Signal Iduna Park. As a result, Morey had to undergo two surgeries. The 22-year-old’s suffering lasted 469 days before he could make his comeback in a competitive match for BVB’s second team last weekend. The magazine « 11Freunde » accompanied Morey and in the new issue gives an insight into the rehabilitation process of the 2017 European U17 champion.

“If it takes a year and a half or two, too bad. But I’ll be back, » Morey said at the start of his ordeal. He watched the video of the injury over and over again over time – only to be able to say later: « Today I’m a hundred times better than I was. ‘era.’ The Palma de Mallorca defender had to have surgery twice, once on the cruciate ligament replaced by a tendon in his left leg, once to remove the scar tissue that had formed. At one point, there was even a threat of a third, but thanks to the work of physiotherapist Peter Kuhnt, the necessary progress in terms of knee flexibility was made in time.

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He first spent a few months with his family in Mallorca during his rehab. It was « not a vacation, but I always had distractions there, » Morey described at the time. Eventually, however, BVB asked him to return to Dortmund: « You want to have more control over what happens. (…) Now I want to lead a professional life again and feel everything that goes with it. Along with rehabilitation coach Dennis Morschel, Morey is developing a stage plan to structure the time until an eventual return.

During an examination at the University of Dortmund in January 2022, doctors even found out why the move Morey made in the duel was even possible. “The severe injury is the result of a movement based on misinformation. The information comes from the knee to the brain and the movement is planned accordingly,” describes Christoph Biermann, author of “11Freunde”. According to Morschel, however, this does not didn’t work at the time: « He received too little information or too bad information. The muscle on the outside works harder than the one on the inside. On the one hand, this leads to the risk of tearing of the muscle fibers and, on the other hand, the strength potential is not fully exploited.

With this knowledge, a training plan can be devised to make Morey’s right leg much more stable through targeted exercises. Rehab coach Morschel calls it a « quantum leap. » The following months will be a time of flashbacks for the Spaniard: on the training ground, on May 10 during joint exercises with the team, in preparation for the friendly group and on August 13, more than 15 months later. the injury, at the start. eleven in the 3rd division. In the 1-0 win over Rot-Weiss Essen in front of a BVB II record crowd of 11,079 fans, Morey was replaced by Lion Semic after 45 minutes. The Spaniard is playing a good game, attracting attention with attacking actions and not afraid of duels after the long enforced break. In May, he wrote on Instagram that he had seen the « light at the end of the tunnel ».

BVB fans and team manager Preuss hope for Morey’s return to Bundesliga

TM user « Doc_Gonzo » says on the BVB forum: « Morey played very attentively and with commitment. Just like you were used to him. Naturally, however, he is still far from his old level. He was very gifted to anticipate several times, was on the ball in front of his opponent and then could only pick the ball up blindly. Usually in such situations he launches a counter attack with a good first touch or pass. He should be featured again with league 3 appearances. » Community member ‘Offensiv84’ says, « One of the best stories of this season already. He should take his time. He could be an option in the pro team sooner than expected. Now we have to cross our fingers so that he stays healthy and manages many U23 games. »

Dortmund U23 manager Ingo Preuss made a similar statement (as quoted via ‘Halterner Zeitung’): « Many no longer expected him to play again. Mateu didn’t let anything burn defensively. He hasn’t had that trait yet that he will have in the Bundesliga when he’s fit again.He’s a great guy and he knows how valuable match training is to getting closer to the pros again. I don’t know exactly yet, but it might not be his last U23 game. »

In mid-July, Morey, who says he has always remained optimistic, told the club’s own broadcaster ‘BVB-TV’: « I try to enjoy every moment with the team on the pitch. It makes me very happy « For me it’s a gift. I’m fine, my knee too. I have a good feeling. (…) In my head, I’m one hundred percent stronger, I’ve learned a lot. In a few months « , I will be stronger on the pitch. Now I need a little more time to regain the sensations, after a year it is difficult. » Perhaps he will soon be able to experience what the pandemic and the long injury denied him: a mission in front of a sold-out « yellow wall » in the Bundesliga.

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The beginning of the summer of 1987 was marked by udo not live the controversy in Fontainebleau, concerning the guardrail project on the RN7, in the forest. If the but is to ensure greater security on the black spots of road safety in the forest of Fontainebleau, the defense associations are not of the same opinion. In the Republic of Seine and Marnethe title of the newspaper on the RN7 controversy. Their cry from the heart: « No to a disguised highway in the heart of the forest ». It is at the Obelisk that the various opponents of the project demonstrate, to demand that « traffic be limited by incentive or restrictive measures, in particular by promoting the use of motorways by users who move through the forest  » .

A highway in the middle of the forest

A tunnel even passes between the bends of Recloses and the Pavé-du-Roy. The point that poses the most concern is when the explanation of the RN7. « We are resolutely against this enlargement decided without a prior impact study », protests Mr. Dayez, president of Fontainebleau Ecologie. It is simply monstrous to consider a four-lane road with a concrete separation as if it were an ordinary highway, and this, in the heart of a forest that is sufficiently damaged, desecrated from all sides and in a thousand ways”, storms Mrs. De Cosse-Brissac, president of the Friends of the Forest. A project that will finally see the light of day, with always, 35 years later, this same issue of crossings of the massif by vehicles.

Easier, but no less important: in The Republic On July 27, journalists report on the entry into the running of Entente MF 77, which is starting the French (Site notre blog d’information) Championship in the second division. A championship that starts with the reception of Rouen, in front of 2,500 spectators. All the right ingredients were there to make the party great. A brand new stand, and after the match a sound and light show worthy of Bernard Tapie. But everything does not go as planned, with a defeat in the key: « It’s what we call learning the second division ».

An old swimming pool

In the heart of summer, the question of swimming pools also makes the headlines of the newspaper. If in Avon, we fill in the hole of the old « Dolly Sisters » swimming pool, which used to be a superb swimming pool where the American stars distributed to bathe, on the side of the station, the swimming pool of the forest is getting a makeover: » A hundred entries Wednesday, August 19 “, rejoices the director. Good news at the heart of a season thwarted by rains and storms:  » Fifteen sunny days in July, and five days in August : a very bad season which caused turnover to drop by almost 50% compared to last year », suffering competition from the less expensive swimming pool at La Faisanderie. However, for 24 francs, the public had access at the swimming pool and its two open-air pools, and at the famous mini-golf for 20 francs more. « It’s expensive, some will say, but we must not forget that the swimming pool in the forest is private », comments the journalise, which assures that the swimming pool is « one of the most pleasant places to spend a moment of relaxation ».

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Against ex-club initially away

Anyone familiar with the careers of Niko Kovac and Max Kruse shouldn’t be surprised that many around VfL Wolfsburg have been asking this summer: The new coach and his idiosyncratic star – can it be right? The first answer to this is a resounding « yes » with a small « but ». Because during the first day of the Bundesliga against his former club Werder Bremen (Saturday, 3:30 p.m.), Kruse will initially only be seated on the bench. « Max had a calf injury first and then got sick. He definitely has some catching up to do. So it won’t be a start from the start, » Kovac confirmed on Thursday.

Otherwise, there is an impressive list of at least ten players at Wolfsburg who have already left or are expected to leave a far too big squad after Kovac’s start in June. But Kruse doesn’t like it.

According to an article by the ‘Wolfsburger Allgemeine Zeitung’, the manager and his number 9 met outside the club’s premises early for a swap deal. « Max is a great boy, I only have positive things to say, » Kovac said later during the training camp in Tyrol. He is a player who « despite his 34 years can still score 15 goals a season and play five to ten more. Always! He has the quality that few Bundesliga players have. When he is fit and physically able to do everything he can, he has skills like Thomas Müller. »

Max Kruse has plenty of competition in attack at VfL Wolfsburg

Kruse’s real challenge in Wolfsburg is therefore not Kovac, but the one he doesn’t know from Bremen: Because he has strong competition in VfL – in terms of quality and quantity. Lukas Nmecha, Jonas Wind, Bartosz Bialek, Omar Marmoush, Luca Waldschmidt, Maximilian Philipp, Jakub Kaminski and Patrick Wimmer: Besides Kruse, at least eight other professionals are available for four attacking spots. Five of them are senior internationals, six of whom are at least ten years younger than the former Werder captain.

For comparison: in Bremen and also at Union Berlin, Kruse was a so-called difference player for a long time, whose loss to Werder could never be replaced in 2019 and whose commitment raised the 1 FC Union 2020 on a different sporting level. Even at Wolfsburg, he was a key transfer in January, changing the mood in the dressing room and saving a battered side from relegation.

This situation has changed. His close confidant Florian Kohfeldt is no longer there. And from a purely sporting point of view, Kruse is no longer a savior, but currently only a challenger. Nevertheless, all fears about the relationship between Kovac and Kruse are meant to quell the fact that the 14-time national player has always got on particularly well with strong coaching personalities: Christian Streich in Freiburg, for example, or Lucien Favre at Borussia Monchengladbach. « Max is Max, » Streich said of him in March. With Kruse, you can « laugh once in a while. » From time to time we see exceptional passes and beautiful goals. What more do we want?

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