Dante’s Bayern II Faces Historic False Start

The results column is merciless. Two competitive games, two defeats, no goals scored, and a coach with a spotless but unwanted record: six matches in charge, six losses.

Bayern II followed up last week’s shock 1-0 home defeat to promoted SC Eltersdorf with another setback on Friday evening, going down 2-0 at Wacker Burghausen. What looked like a bump in the road is starting to resemble a genuine rut.

Since the introduction of the Regionalliga Bayern in 2012/13, Bayern’s reserves had never opened a campaign with back-to-back defeats. This season, under Dante, they have crashed straight through that floor. Bottom of the table with zero points and a goal difference of 0-3 in the league – and 2-16 across all six games including pre-season – the numbers tell a stark story.

Overrun Early in Burghausen

At Burghausen, who finished eighth last season, Bayern II never really settled in the first half. The hosts smelled vulnerability and went after it.

Wacker pressed high, forced mistakes, and repeatedly punched holes in a shaky Bayern back line. The breakthrough came in the 22nd minute, when Felix Bachschmid finished off another wave of pressure to make it 1-0. In truth, the opener had been coming.

Bayern never regained their footing before the interval. Burghausen continued to swarm, and Bachschmid struck again in the 38th minute, doubling the lead and effectively deciding the contest before half-time. The 2-0 scoreline flattered Bayern more than the hosts.

A Young Side, a Heavy Burden

This is a very young Bayern II team. The starting XI in Burghausen had an average age of just 20, a group still learning the hardness of senior football. To guide them, the club has brought in experience: Benno Schmitz, 31, with Bundesliga pedigree at 1. FC Köln and RB Leipzig, and Anton Heinz, 28, who has seen plenty of Regionalliga battles with clubs including Alemannia Aachen.

After the break, that blend finally began to show. Bayern tightened up defensively, looked more compact, and at least stemmed the flow. They also began to find some attacking moments, probing Wacker’s back line and hinting at a response that never quite arrived.

The game, though, never truly ignited again. Burghausen controlled what they needed to control; Bayern lacked the incision to drag themselves back.

“After the break we adjusted a few things and then it was significantly better. Unfortunately, we didn’t reward ourselves with a goal,” Dante said afterwards. “Even so, we have to keep our heads up – it’s important to me that we learn from this match.”

Pressure Behind the Scenes

No one at Säbener Straße will be sounding the relegation alarm in early August. But the trend line is hard to ignore. Four defeats in four pre-season friendlies, now followed by two losses to open the Regionalliga campaign, have already put a strain on the optimism that greeted Dante’s appointment.

For Bayern, the second team is more than a side project. It is a strategic pillar. The club wants its best youngsters tested at the highest possible level, ideally in the 3. Liga. Regionalliga football is considered the bare minimum. Dropping to the Oberliga would be a serious setback for the pathway from academy to first team.

That is why, behind the public calm, one or two worried glances will already be directed at the league table – and at the performances that produced it.

Dante’s Euphoria Meets Reality

Dante returned to Munich with the glow of a club legend and the enthusiasm of a rookie coach. A treble winner with Bayern between 2012 and 2015, he came back immediately after ending his playing career at OGC Nice, eager to start his coaching journey where he once patrolled the back line.

“I want us to play with joy,” he said shortly before the season. “Young players in particular should enjoy putting their foot down so that they can also be happy after the match. But that only works with a lot of hard work and discipline.”

The idea is clear: expressive football built on structure and intensity. The execution, so far, has been brutal. Six games, no positive result, and a team still searching for its identity under a coach learning his trade in real time.

Yet this is precisely the kind of pressure-cooker environment that forges coaches. Dante is not panicking, but the early weeks will sting. The euphoria of his return now needs to be converted into resilience, clarity, and points.

Schweinfurt Looms as Early Test

Next up is 1. FC Schweinfurt, recently relegated from the 3. Liga, on Saturday. It is far too early to call it a must-win, but it already feels like a marker.

Another defeat would deepen the doubts and keep Bayern II anchored to the bottom. A first victory, by contrast, would not erase the nightmare start, but it would change the mood instantly, give this young squad something to cling to, and give Dante tangible proof that his work is taking hold.

For a coach who once celebrated the biggest titles in this club’s history, the task now is far more modest yet no less important: stop the slide, steady the project, and make sure Bayern’s next generation are learning to win, not just to suffer.