Relief at second division soccer club FC St. Pauli: Coach Timo Schultz's team struggled to a 4:3 (2:2) win at regional division club SV Straelen on Saturday and is thus in the second round of the DFB Cup. "We're relieved that we finally got through to the next round," said Schultz. "I would like to take the opportunity to congratulate Sunday Oliseh on a team that is in top form." The team of the former Dortmund pro had presented Hamburg with serious problems.
Only a billiard goal by Jakov Medic in the last minute of regular time gave the guests the mandatory victory. Eric Smith (25th), Medic (40th) and substitute David Otto (63rd) had previously scored for the favorite. Manolis Saliakas saw the red card in the 77th minute for rough play. "The number of mistakes we made was too high, we didn't have enough intensity to provide clarity early on," Schultz reprimanded. "It wasn't our best day," Medic admitted.
The Lower Rhine fourth division of club boss Hermann Tecklenburg, the husband of women's national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg, initially surprisingly took the lead through Jaron Vicario (19th). Until then, the guests had missed several good chances. Straelen even had a great chance to make it 2-0, but Ken Mata carelessly missed it (22'). But even after St. Pauli had turned the game around, coach Sunday Oliseh's team didn't give up and equalized shortly after the 1-2 through Amoros Nshimirimana (42nd).
In the second round, St. Pauli initially played more dominantly, but got into trouble again after being sent off hard. Again Vicario (80th) used a bitter mistake by St. Pauli keeper Dennis Smarsch to equalize again. In the 90th minute Smith then fired a free kick against the post from which the ball bounced off Medic's back and happily into the goal in front. The game took place in Duisburg because the home ground of the Niederrheinclub does not meet the conditions for a DFB Cup game.
In Bayreuth, on the other hand, the Wagner Festival is currently underway, and it would not have been missing for a football opera that was tragic from HSV's point of view. The last semi-finalists saved themselves on Saturday at SpVgg Bayreuth, who had been promoted to the third division, and finally won 3-1 (1-1, 0-1).
The non-stop attack in Hamburg after the break initially resulted in a number of missed chances in 1:1 by substitute Ransford Königsdörfer in the 83rd minute. In extra time, captain Sebastian Schonlau scored after a corner by Sonny Kittel in the penalty area from a turn (97'). The decision was then made by the again successful Königsdörfer (111th). The guests around the agile double packer Königsdörfer left the field in the Hans-Walter-Wild-Stadion, which was filled with 14,700 spectators, relieved after 120 minutes.
For a long time it looked as if Luke Hemmerich and goalkeeper Sebastian Kolbe would provide a surprising Bayreuth Cup Festival. Defender Hemmerich scored in the 16th minute with an untenable deflected free kick to make it 1-0. HSV goalkeeper Daniel Heuer Fernandes later even had to avert a Hamburger 0:2 deficit at the break when Alexander Nollenberger headed the ball.
The Hamburgers pressed the gas pedal in the second half. They created a number of scoring chances. Königsdörfer headed the crossbar (59'). Robert Glatzel failed to keep Kolbe strong (60th). The HSV lacked the serenity in front of the goal for a long time. It was only in extra time that the second division team beat the brave Bayreuth team and silenced the chants of the Bayreuth fans, at least in the stadium.
