The 2025 Club World Cup Group F will stage the focus of the second round, and the "Yellow Bees" Dortmund will challenge Mamelodi Sundowns from South Africa. Niko Kovac said in an interview that the team will still rotate when playing in hot weather, and also urged the team to control the ball more to avoid unnecessary energy consumption in running.

In the first round, Dortmund could only draw 0-0 with Fluminense. After only getting one point, Dortmund is currently ranked second in the Group F standings.

Dortmund coach Niko Kovac said, "All players are available now. Brandt broke his hand and has some pain, but he has participated in training, so everyone is ready for the game against Mamelodi Sundowns."

"Mamelodi Sundowns have dominated South Africa in recent years and they reached the African Champions League final a few weeks ago. They are a team that is looking to put on a good show and for us, we have to stop them and control the ball. The weather will be very hot during the game and we have to control the ball more because chasing the ball all the time will consume unnecessary energy."

Talking about Job Bellingham, who recently joined Dortmund, Niko Kovac said, "From a physical point of view, he is definitely capable of playing. We haven't trained with him for a long time, so I think he still needs a little time. But if I send him on the field, I will not have any concerns, but will be very relieved. I do have a lot of excellent players. If you watch other games, you will notice that many teams rotate."

"Except for the goalkeeper, there will be almost no players who play from start to finish. Especially in these weather conditions, we must send players who are physically fit and acclimatized. This is why we changed two players in the first game at 60 minutes and two more at around 75 minutes. We will do the same tomorrow. We hope to maintain a high level of quality. In such high temperatures, physical fitness will drop rapidly over time, so we must make good use of the substitutions."

In addition, Niko Kovac also said, "Based on this temperature, the pace of the game is simply impossible to be fast. Of course, we want to play at a higher tempo, but even the audience feels hot, let alone the players. Tomorrow's cool temperature is 32 degrees, the temperature of the stadium may be 3 to 5 degrees higher, and the players have to keep running. This is not an excuse, just an explanation."

"All teams are affected now, especially European teams, which face greater challenges. I think southern teams are more accustomed to this kind of weather, but no matter what, we still want to win the game, no matter what way or what form."