DFL-Supercup Set for Saturday as German Football Returns

The DFL Supercup –also referred to as the German Super Cup–is the symbolic start of the football season in the country. It’s a single game competition between the defending Bundesliga champion and the defending DFB-Pokal (German Cup) champion. This year produces a nice matchup between Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich. Actually, Bayern Munich is the defending Bundesliga *and* DFB-Pokal champs and since they can’t play themselves they’ll face rivals Borussia Dortmund who finished second on the league table last season just two points back.

As if a two point margin between the top two teams in German soccer wasn’t dramatic enough, Bayern Munich won the title on the final day of the campaign after trailing for most of the year. It was Bayern Munich’s 7th consecutive Bundesliga title and 28th overall. The expectation is that Bayern will run their consecutive title streak to eight this year–the German soccer futures odds have them installed as a -400 favorite to win the Bundesliga with Borussia Dortmund second at +450. Every other team in the league is priced at +1450 or higher.

Manager Lucien Favre will have a number of new faces on hand as Borussia starts the year. The big loss was midfielder Christian Pulisic who signed with English Premier League powerhouse Chelsea. The key additions are midfielders Thorgan Hazard and Julian Brandt along with defenders Mats Hummels and Nico Schultz. An important returnee is midfielder Jadon Sancho who was impressive in his German debut last year. He had been linked with a move to Manchester United over the Summer but it looks as if he’ll be around for another year. With Marco Reus (17 goals) and Paco Alacacer (18 goals) returning it means that Borussia’s top three Bundesliga goal scorers (along with Jadon Sancho’s 12 goals).

Bayern Munich will have to replace forward Arjen Robben who retired in early July. At age 35, he may be ‘long in the tooth’ but was a very important veteran dressing room presence. His four goals on last season will be easy enough to replace but his ‘intangibles’ won’t be. Also retiring is Franck Ribéry who made 273 appearances for Bayern Munich dating back to 2007. Polish national team captain Robert Lewandowski came over from Borussia Dortmund in 2014 and will be expected to play a bigger role in the offense this season. The expectation is that Bayern Munich isn’t done making moves and could bring in some more new faces–they’ve been trying to bring in Leroy Sane for most of the Summer though Manchester City’s asking price is extremely steep.

Still a lot up in the air for both teams–particularly Bayern Munich. That makes picking a winner tough so we’ll focus on goal scoring. There should be a lot of them–look for both teams to score and this game to go ‘Over’ the total.

BET BORUSSIA DORTMUND/BAYERN MUNICH OVER 3 -102
BET BORUSSIA DORTMUND/BAYERN MUNICH BOTH TEAMS TO SCORE–YES -180

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