Heidenheim (dpa / lsw) - After two first round defeats in a row, second division soccer team 1. FC Heidenheim travels with a warning at the start of the new DFB Cup season. "It's a competition that's something special. An opponent for whom the game will be an absolute highlight," said coach Frank Schmidt one day before the game at regional league club FV Illertissen on Saturday (3:31 p.m. / Sky). "I can rule out that we underestimate our opponents. We don't go there and think that we will automatically win because of the individual quality. We're happy, but we have a lot of respect for our opponents." You want to approach the game "highly seriously".
In the past two years, the Heidenheim team lost out early in the cup against Wehen Wiesbaden and Hansa Rostock. In the league they got the best haul of six points from the first two games of the current season. According to Schmidt, defender Norman Theuerkauf is back in training after a break due to illness, but is not yet an option against Illertissen. The coach announced that substitute keeper Vitus Eicher would be in goal.
