Dortmund loss underlines Flick's dilemma

As Wolfsburg's players celebrated a deserved victory over a sluggish Borussia Dortmund, none of Germany's three hopeful young forwards was in a great way. Lukas Nmecha was on the turf clutching his knee, Youssoufa Moukoko was remonstrating pointlessly with the referee and Karim Adeyemi was on the bench, contemplating a tenth Bundesliga appearance without a first league goal.

Nmecha, at least, had left his mark, scoring the goal that sealed the win in injury time with a smart finish, opening his body to put away a low cross from ahead of the front post. But the young Dortmund pair had no such consolation, with their team's run of three consecutive league victories brought to an abrupt halt by Niko Kovac's side.

"We saw a lot of opportunities for both sides," the former Bayern Munich coach said after the match. "But overall I think we had more, and the better ones."

That Niklas Süle, filling in at rightback, was Dortmund's biggest goal threat for most of Tuesday's match backs up Kovac's assessment. Moukoko, whose brace against Bochum at the weekend heightened calls for his inclusion in Germany's World Cup squad, cut a lonely and increasingly frustrated figure as the match wore on.

Adeyemi not off the mark

No real blame can be attached to the 17-year-old, who missed a golden chance with his head, but Dortmund's dependence on such a young player tells its own, familiar, story.

Adeyemi has yet to find a way to fit in to Edin Terzic's system, while Dutchman Donyell Malen has scored just six times in 36 Bundesliga games since becoming Dortmund's record signing at the start of last season. His €30 million fee was passed twice ahead of this campaign, for Adeyemi and Sebastien Haller, whose cancer-enforced absence has been keenly-felt.

Goals were far from the only problem on Tuesday, though. Süle admitted Dortmund had "slept through" the opening minutes, when Micky van de Ven swept home from a corner, but Moukoko and Adeyemi struggled to connect with their teammates too. Jude Bellingham, usually such a driving force, struggled for a change, Julian Brandt flattered to deceive and BVB looked lost when it mattered. "We can't complain about going off as losers because of the poor start," added Terzic.

Though they had those chances, Wolfsburg too were hesitant in front of goal after the opener. Yet Nmecha stayed on the bench until the last 15 minutes, with Kovac mindful of a goalscoring drought that stretched back to September 3. Whether finally breaking that would have been enough for him to add to a couple of previous cameo performances for Germany is a question Hansi Flick will no longer need to consider, after Wolfsburg confirmed Nmecha will be out for at least a "few weeks" on Wednesday putting him out of the tournament..

Big call for Flick

The Germany boss has plenty of other questions to ponder before his squad for the roundly-criticized tournament in Qatar is announced on Thursday, but the selection of his forwards seems his toughest task. While Kai Havertz or Serge Gnabry playing out of position might be his preferred plan, at least one of Adeyemi and Moukoko seems likely to make the plane.

Moukoko's potential is clear, even in defeat he had his moments, and he's scored six in the league this term. But at 17, he's a risk and the spotlight is already intense. Perhaps crucially he's a natural number 9, while Adeyemi looks more comfortable running from wide. His lack of form surely makes him a long shot but Nmecha's injury may help his case.

Germany's inability to produce central goalscorers has been a problem for nearly a decade now, and Flick is astute enough to know he needs to find other solutions. Another potential one, Marco Reus, must now be in real doubt for Qatar after Terzic said he'd had a setback in his return from an ankle injury pre-match.

The Dortmund captain, who missed Germany's World Cup win in 2014 as well as two Euros through injury, knows better than most that these chances don't come round too often.