In the end there were no more surprises. After Bayer Leverkusen and 1. FC Köln surprisingly failed in the first round of the DFB Cup on Saturday and Hertha BSC, the third Bundesliga side, were eliminated on Sunday, Werder Bremen and Union Berlin just saved themselves in round two.
The Hanseatic League seemed to have actually solved the task in Cottbus after the second goal, but in the final phase the favorite had to tremble again. Bundesliga returnees Werder Bremen took the first hurdle in the DFB Cup as close as possible. Bremen won 2-1 (1-0) at regional league team Energie Cottbus on Monday evening.
Midfielder Romano Schmid (43rd minute) and Mitchell Weiser (73rd) scored for Werder. Substitute Tim Heike (79th) scored the first goal for Cottbus. Before the Bundesliga start at VfL Wolfsburg on Saturday (3:30 p.m. / Sky), Ole Werner’s team controlled the game for a long time before the Cottbus team made it exciting. Claus-Dieter Wollitz’ team got into the game better and better in front of 20,078 spectators in the Stadion der Hoffnung, but in the end it was too late.
The longing for professional football was evident in the supporters of Brandenburg, who last played in the DFB Cup in 2019: from the start, the Energie fans loudly celebrated every good move by their team. 21-year-old full-back Lee Buchanan made his competitive debut at Werder. Leonardo Bittencourt, trained in Cottbus and turned professional, was also in the top eleven in his home country. In the stands was his father Franklin, a former Energy crowd pleaser.
The Bundesliga side, who failed in the first round last season to third division side VfL Osnabrück, dominated the events without becoming dangerous very often. Marvin Ducksch hit the post after a low cross from Mitchell Weiser (10′). Energie keeper Alexander Sebald played the ball into Bremen’s feet in his own penalty area, but then saved against Niclas Füllkrug (27′). A push-through pass from Füllkrug allowed Schmid to run towards Sebald on his own shortly before the break. The 22-year-old pushed in confidently.
The Cottbus team came out of the break much better. Axel Borgmann fired a long-range shot just wide of the goal (47th). Almost in counter-attack Ducksch actually has to make it 2-0, but shoots again at the post from a short distance. The Brandenburgers now dared more and ran into a counterattack. Weiser extended a deflected shot from Ducksch into the net. Heike’s connection came too late.
Union Berlin had even more trouble than Bremen. The Köpenicker only escaped a cup embarrassment with a lot of effort and luck. At Chemnitzer FC, the Bundesliga club achieved a 2-1 (0-0) win after extra time. Captain Tobias Müller surprisingly gave the regional league the lead after 62 minutes. In direct return, newcomer Jordan Siebatcheu (64th) equalized with a side kick from close range in front of 13,465 spectators. Kevin Behrens scored in the 114th minute for the favorites to win.
Coach Urs Fischer sent the team into play that started against Nottingham Forest and thus answered the goalkeeper’s question: Frederik Rönnow is going into the season as number one. With Jordan Siebatcheu, Fischer only sent one newcomer to the starting XI.
CFC coach Christian Tiffert chose a very defensive variant with a five-man defense chain for the regional league. And that didn’t allow the Bundesliga club much in the first section. Chances from Sheraldo Becker (5′, 10′), Gerhard Trimmel (14′), who hit the side netting, and Robin Knoche (17′), whose header was saved by CFC goalkeeper Jakub Jakubov, indicated the Union’s initial superiority.
But more and more technical errors crept in, the running paths were suddenly no longer correct, and a powerful attacking game was no longer to be seen. Chemnitz fought selflessly, threw themselves into the balls and kept the Berliners quite far from their own penalty area. However, the regional league team didn’t get any chances themselves, so Rönnow experienced an extremely quiet first half.
That changed after the move. The Sachsenpokal winner suddenly became braver. Max Roscher (51st) failed after a counterattack by Rönnow. The Chemnitz lead after a free-kick cross was a wake-up call for Union. Directly in return, Siebatcheu equalized technically excellently. The preparatory work by Andreas Vogelsammer, who had just come on as a substitute, was also worth seeing.
Both clubs then pushed for the decision, with Union having the clearer chances through Andras Schäfer (81st), Trimmel’s crossbar hit (85th) and Julian Ryerson (85th). But it went into extra time, in which the Union was now the better team thanks to the larger reserves of strength. In the 109th minute, Trimmel had the winning goal on his feet, but flicked the ball past. Then Behrens managed to score the goal with his head.
After the faux pas last year, Europa League winner Eintracht Frankfurt safely cleared the cup hurdle with debutant Mario Götze. At second division promoted 1. FC Magdeburg, the Hessians came to a sovereign 4-0 (2-0) and are thus prepared for the Bundesliga cracker on Friday (8.30 p.m. / Sat.1 and Sky) against record champions Bayern Munich. In front of 26,350 spectators in the sold-out MDCC Arena, Daichi Kamada (4th minute) gave the first division the lead. Two minutes later, national goalkeeper Kevin Trapp prevented the equalizer with a parried penalty kick. Jesper Lindström (31st), again Kamada (59th) and Lucas Alario (90th) made everything clear for Eintracht.
“That was my first game, it’s only been five weeks. But I can be the piece of the puzzle,” was Götze’s cautiously positive conclusion: “The trend is positive. So far it’s going very well. We are in good spirits and very positive.”
The Magdeburg fans had just rolled out a huge choreo with Emperor Otto and an eagle in a closed cage when the ball was already in the FCM case. Kamada (4th) deliberately shot from the edge of the penalty area into the left corner. Filip Kostic did the preliminary work in cooperation with world champion Götze, who made his competitive debut for the Hessians.
Practically in return, Leonardo Scienza was knocked off his feet by Lucas Tuta in the penalty area. Referee Felix Zwayer immediately pointed to the point. Trapp dived early and saved Andreas Müller’s weak penalty. Eintracht was lucky when Leon Bell shot the ball in the margin, only hitting the top edge of the bar.
FCM coach Christian Titz just ordered a change on the right side of defense against opponent Kostic after half an hour, when the left side was overrun. Ansgar Knauff is sent off steeply by Götze, but his shot fails at FCM keeper Dominik Reimann. Lindström (31′) aimed right into the far corner to make it 2-0.
With the lead behind them, the Hessians became more and more mellow. Coach Glasner, who lost his first mandatory Eintracht game in the cup at third division SV Waldhof Mannheim last year, was warned anyway. Magdeburg played well at times, but made mistakes in the opposing penalty area. In addition, the guests were physically more dominant.
Shortly before the restart, first the guest fans, then later the FCM supporters, ignited pyrotechnics in their own block. The second half started with a slight delay. Big chances were in short supply at half-time. Eintracht played ripped off, waiting for mistakes, like in the 59th minute: Substitute Tatsuya Ito lost the ball in his own penalty area. After a Borré lay-off, Kamada shot sharply into the right corner.
SV Darmstadt 98 made it through to the second round of the DFB Cup much more confidently. The second division team won 3-0 (2-0) against the weak third division club FC Ingolstadt. In front of 5298 spectators, Phillip Tietz (15th) and Tobias Kempe gave the guests the lead with a penalty kick (42nd) on the birthday of their coach Torsten Lieberknecht. Magnus Warming (84th) made the final score.
Darmstadt dominated from the start and had great chances every minute. But the guests initially failed either because of the aluminum or because of the strong FCI keeper Markus Pronath. Ingolstadt’s goalkeeper was only unable to parry Tietz’s shot in the early stages. As a result, the Hessians continued to exploit opportunities. Finally, Kempe made the preliminary decision from the point in an extremely one-sided game.
Even after the break, the exploitation of chances remained Darmstadt’s major shortcoming. The Ingolstadt team now tried more from a distance, but the balls usually got stuck on the first defender. It took 69 minutes until the first dangerous Schanzer penalty action. In the final phase, the FCI got a little stronger, but Darmstadt’s warming ended with a well-placed low shot.
1. FC Kaan-Marienborn – 1. FC Nuremberg 0:2
TSG Neustrelitz – Karlsruher SC 0:8
Dynamo Dresden – VfB Stuttgart 0:1
1860 Munich – Borussia Dortmund 0:3
FC Viktoria Berlin – VfL Bochum 0:3
SV Straelen – FC St. Pauli 3:4
Jahn Regensburg – 1. FC Cologne 4: 3
VfB Lübeck – Hansa Rostock 1:0
SV Elversberg – Bayer Leverkusen 4:3
FC Unity Wernigerode – SC Paderborn 0:10
FV Illertissen – 1. FC Heidenheim 0:2
SpVgg Bayreuth – Hamburger SV 1: 3 a.V.
Kickers Offenbach – Fortuna Düsseldorf 1:4
Carl Zeiss Jena – VfL Wolfsburg 0:1
Stuttgart Kickers – SpVgg Greuther Furth 2-0
BSV Rehden – SV Sandhausen 0:4
Bremen SV – FC Schalke 04 0:5
FV Engers – Arminia Bielefeld 1:7
TSV Schott Mainz – Hannover 96 0: 3
SV Rodinghausen – TSG Hoffenheim 0: 2 a.e.t.
1. FC Kaiserslautern – SC Freiburg 1: 2 a.e.t.
SV Oberachern – Borussia Monchengladbach 1:9
BW Lohne – FC Augsburg 0:4
Eintracht Braunschweig – Hertha BSC 6: 5 on penalties
SV Waldhof Mannheim – Holstein Kiel 5: 3 i.E.
FC Erzgebirge Aue – 1. FSV Mainz 05 0: 3
Chemnitzer FC – 1. FC Union Berlin 1: 2 a.e.t.
FC Ingolstadt – Darmstadt 98 0:3
Energie Cottbus – Werder Bremen 1: 2
1. FC Magdeburg – Eintracht Frankfurt 0: 4
Tuesday, August 30th
Teutonia Ottensen 05 – RB Leipzig
Wednesday 31 August
FC Viktoria Koln – FC Bayern Munich
