The “TTBL Player of the Month February”: Li Yongyin from Borussia Dortmund
TTBL fans were able to vote for their “TTBL Player of the Month February” in a social media poll. After the matchday three-pack with rounds 16 to 18 as well as important continental competitions, four candidates were up for election either because of consistently good performances or because of important successes in the TTBL or as an individual player (in alphabetical order): Simon Gauzy (TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen/3:1 wins), Kanak Jha (TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt/Pan American Cup winner, Kao Cheng-Jui (TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell/match winner in the play-off duel with 1 FC Saarbrücken-TT)) and Li Yongyin (Borussia Dortmund/5:1). BVB ace Li received the most votes.
In fact, the “Lion” roared particularly loudly in February: “Leo”, as Li is not only called by most people in Dortmund (“That's easier”), was not only the outstanding and most consistent player of the month in the German top flight after a successful run of four games without defeat with a record of 5:1 wins, but also practically eliminated all Borussia's worries about staying in the league in a sporting manner even before all second division clubs officially gave up promotion.
However, Dortmund's success in the fight against relegation virtually on the sofa in no way diminishes Li's achievements. On the contrary, the away defeat at ASC Grünwettersbach (2:3) and the home victories against Post SV Mühlhausen and TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau (both 3:1) only underlined once again the importance of the 25-year-old for the Westphalian Bundesliga newcomers.
While February began in Grünwettersbach with mixed results for Li himself (3:2 against Guilherme Teodoro and 2:3 against Tiago Apolonia), the Chinese player then really turned up the heat in the supposed relegation duels in front of his home crowd: Against Mühlhausen, Li first gave Irvin Bertrand (3:2) and Steffen Mengel (3:0) a run for their money, as he did later against Grenzau against Feng Yi-Hsin and Luka Mladenovic (both 3:0).
The match against Mladenovic was under special circumstances: A year ago, Li and the Luxembourger still played together for 1. FSV Mainz 05, but had to accept relegation after a difficult season for the Hessians. For Li, relegation meant saying goodbye. On the way to his final 14:11 record for Mainz, the left-hander had attracted the attention of several clubs in his first TTBL season. In the end, the Asian from Xiamen in south-east China decided to accept Dortmund's offer.
But Li's wanderings through the TTBL will continue in the summer, despite the certainty of relegation: Li, who gained his first European experience at Polish Champions League participant UKS Bialystok before his engagement in Mainz, will move to record champions Borussia Düsseldorf for the new season.
His decision was literally an obvious one: Li, who unlike most of his TTBL colleagues does not play in international tournaments and can therefore act as a constant for a team, lives in Düsseldorf and also completes most of his training sessions in the NRW capital.
Florian Manzke