There is a great longing for professional football in Cottbus, Brandenburg. But the regional league team takes courage late. In this way, Bremen can prevent another early end. Darmstadt, on the other hand, never leaves the home side room for cup dreams in Ingolstadt. Union, on the other hand, has to work an extra shift.

Energie Cottbus – SV Werder Bremen 1: 2 (0: 1)

Bundesliga returnees Werder Bremen barely cleared the first hurdle in the DFB Cup. Bremen won 2-1 (1-0) at regional league team Energie Cottbus. Midfielder Romano Schmid (43rd minute) and Mitchell Weiser (73rd) scored for Werder. Substitute Tim Heike (79th) scored the first goal for Cottbus. 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.

Before the Bundesliga start at VfL Wolfsburg, Ole Werner’s team controlled the game for a long time before the Cottbusser 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 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 Cottbusser 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.

FC Ingolstadt 04 – SV Darmstadt 98 0:3 (0:2)

SV Darmstadt 98 easily made it into the second round of the DFB Cup. 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. Even after the break, the exploitation of chances remained Darmstadt’s major shortcoming. 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.

Chemnitzer FC – Union Berlin 1: 2 a.e.t. (0: 0)

1. FC Union Berlin 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, new signing 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.

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 bolder: 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 subsequently pushed for the decision, with Union having the clearer options. 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.