Mark Lerandy gets goosebumps. "When the boys enter the stadium, it will be tingling," says the team manager of SV Oberachern of the German Press Agency.
"As soon as you sit in the dressing room and hear the spectators outside, your heart will pound." Anyone who listens to the 40-year-old would probably like to put on a jersey themselves and run onto the pitch.
The DFB Cup first round duel with Borussia Mönchengladbach on Sunday (3.30 p.m. / Sky) is the highlight in the almost 100-year history of the southern Baden club and the only one between a top division team and a Bundesliga team this weekend. "It's the biggest game of our lives," says central defender and captain Nicola Leberer.
Small versus large - that's what has given the competition its special charm for decades. Bremer SV knows this from their own experience, having played against Borussia Dortmund in 1979 and against FC Bayern Munich last season. On Sunday (1 p.m. / Sky) the Hanseatic League will face Schalke 04, who are returning from the Bundesliga – after five narrowly missed promotions in a row, now even as a regional league team.
Oberachern for the first time
Oberachern, meanwhile, is in the DFB Cup for the first time - and in comparison of a fifth with a first division team, of course, a blatant outsider. "We're not building a defensive bulwark. We want to show our DNA," announces team manager Lerandy. "We love taking risks, playing with our eyes wide open." A bit Klopp style.
Away from the pitch, Lerandy names 1. FC Heidenheim, which has blossomed from a top division club to an established second division club over the past 15 years, as a role model. In terms of sport, the Oberachern team was inspired by Jürgen Klopp's attacking approach. "We like what Kloppo lets play," says Lerandy of Liverpool's star coach. "The intensity with which they play is insane," adds captain Leberer. "We know that our chance is maybe five percent. But we're not going to put ourselves in the back."
The 26-year-old, who is a sports and gymnastics teacher in his main job and also delivers packages, is one of several Liverpool fans in the Oberachern squad. "When the Reds play in the Champions League, our boys are surprisingly quick to take a shower after practice," jokes Lerandy. A Gladbach fan can't be found on the lawn with the Badeners, but in the stands. As if they had guessed it, the players gave the club president's wife a jersey from their heart club for her birthday at the end of May. A few days later they caught "one of the top 5 lots", as Lerandy calls Borussia, during the draw, which they watched together on a big screen.
Over 10,000 spectators expected
The SVO is expecting well over 10,000 spectators on Sunday. Because of course there would be no place for them on the sports field at Waldsee, the club moves from Achern, which has a population of around 25,000, to the Dreisamstadion in Freiburg. Lerandy, who used to play for the third division club 1. FC Saarbrücken and with them in the 2012 cup against Schalke, knows such scenes. Not the protégés of Oberachern's coach Fabian Himmel. "Everyone wants to get a few more percent in training and recommend themselves for the starting XI," said captain Leberer. Other people from Oberachern are also working hard. Before the big game, extra chocolates in the shape of a football were baked in a chocolate shop.
Cup fever has gripped Bremer SV again. "It's a huge event for the club and for the players. We can show ourselves. Schalke are lucky," says coach Torsten Gütschow, a former goalscorer at Dynamo Dresden and a star in the GDR Oberliga. "The tickets were gone in one day. I've already said to the players: 'We have absolutely no chance - but we'll use it!'"
The BSV is a popular district club with its own, traditionally left-wing fan culture and is called "small St. Pauli". Since their own stadium is too small and the Weser Stadium is too expensive in terms of operating costs, the club plays against Schalke in the VfB Oldenburg stadium. The only catch: the showers stay cold because of the city's energy-saving measures during the summer holidays. Bremen are happy to accept that for their next cup adventure.
