Zeidler reveals Masovic is out for Dortmund, provides update on Miyoshi

After having yanked central defender Erhan Masovic early (15th minute) in last weekend’s 2-2 draw with Kiel, VfL Bochum trainer Peter Zeidler will have to do without the 25-year-old in this coming Friday evening’s “kleines Reveierderby” showdown with Borussia Dortmund. This was confirmed by the 62-year-old trainer at his Thursday pre-match presser. 

Zeidler revealed that the Serbian international will not make the match-day squad for reasons that are not sporting-related. Masovic is with his wife, who is expected to give birth this weekend. With Ivan Ordets remaining out and the experiment of moving Ibrahima Sissoko in the back-four not proving successful, Tim Oermann likely stands in line for a start. 

In the case of Japanese attacker Koji Miyoshi – a late scratch against Kiel last week – Zeidler confirmed that the Samurai international was only able to participate in some of the team training sessions this past week. Zeidler nevertheless indicated that a player he maintains great respect for could still make a starting XI comeback. 

“He wasn’t able to join all the team training sessions this week,” Zeidler noted, “[but] remains a big boost to our footballing quality and definitely a candidate for the starting XI.”