Defending champions RB Leipzig were the last of the 32 teams to qualify for the second round of the DFB Cup. Host SV Wehen-Wiesbaden held strong against it on Wednesday evening (September 27th, 2023) despite an early deficit.
Wehen-Wiesbaden has gained a good foothold in the Second Bundesliga, with two wins and eight points after seven games. The newcomer is currently in 14th place, but it is clear to everyone in the Hessian capital that they are fighting to stay in the league.
“Made more mistakes than usual”
There will be no distraction or additional stress from the cup competition during the rest of this season. The first round was also the last for Markus Kauczinski’s team, but the performance in the 2:3 (1:2) against the Bundesliga title candidate is definitely worth encouraging for the rest of the season.
“Wiesbaden makes it very difficult for the opponent. We made more mistakes than usual, but in the end what counts is that we progressed”said RB keeper Peter Gulasci on the ARD microphone after his first game after an injury break of almost a year: “It will be a different game against Bayern. We play every three days, something like that can happen.”
Wiesbaden’s Sascha Mockenhaupt told Sportschau: “I really have mixed feelings. We played a great game from which we can draw a lot for the next tasks. But everything only worked out 99 percent of the time, otherwise we would have progressed.”
Rose: “Completely lost control”
Wiesbaden’s coach Markus Kauczinski seamlessly agreed with this point of view. His colleague Marco Rose, who had rotated to six positions since the 1-0 win in Mönchengkadbach, admitted: “It was a lot of hard work. We did a lot of things well and right in the first half. Then we were poorly lined up at 1-2 and in the end, it has to be said, we completely lost control. Compliments to my team “That we still made it to the second round.”
Early RB leadership by Forsberg
The draw couldn’t have been more difficult for Wiesbaden: Leipzig, the 2023 and 2022 cup champions, came to the arena, which was sold out with 12,500 spectators. The balance of power then seemed to be quickly clarified.
In the 7th minute, SVWW keeper Florian Stritzel was only able to fend off a header from Yussuf Poulsen, and Emil Forsberg, who was technically strong, chased the rebound from ten meters into the left corner. However, Wiesbaden quickly recovered from this and launched some courageous counterattacks, which ended with cup comebacker Peter Gulacsi in the RB goal.
Failed clarification by Mathisen
On the other side, Leipzig should have added the second goal in the 16th minute, but Benjamin Sesko, Poulsen and Fabio Carvalho missed a triple chance within a few seconds. But two minutes later Sesko scored. The Slovenian center forward was there from close range when Marcus Mathisen’s header attempt to clear the ball from his own six-yard box failed completely and became the perfect assist.
One of many duels: Leipzig’s Christopher Lenz (l.) in a duel with Wiesbaden’s Nick Bätzner (r.).
Leipzig was even more dominant as a result, but failed to score a third goal several times. The penalty came in the 41st minute. After a long pass from Martin Angha, Ivan Prtajin started forward, easily shook off his guard Nicolas Seiwald and elegantly lofted the ball over Gulacsi – Wiesbaden was back in the game.
Seiwald creates danger in his own team
Seiwald, however, less so. The Austrian midfielder obviously struggled extremely with his mistake and subsequently made numerous further pass errors and unnecessary fouls. After an hour, the blatant outsider almost took advantage of another RB mistake, this time by Kevin Kampl, to equalize – but Gulacsi made an excellent save against Prtajin.
Wiesbaden was close to equalizing in this scene, but after a triple substitution by RB coach Marco Rose, in which he, among other things, relieved Seiwald of his used evening, the game seemed to take the expected course. Xavi Simons and Lois Openda, who had recently come into the game, provided the preparation, then Sesko used the rebound after Forsberg’s shot to make it 3-1 (70th).
Prtajin shortens for the second time
The decision? Not again. Even after taking another two-goal lead, Leipzig acted with astonishing lack of confidence and had neither peace nor order in their actions. Almost logically, Wiesbaden came back again, less than three minutes after Sesko’s goal Prtajin made it 2-3 after a corner.
And it remained a close duel. Sesko hit the crossbar in the 80th minute, and Wehen-Wiesbaden was back on the trigger in the final phase. Gulacsi had to use all his skills once again when Julius Kade shot from distance, and even with high balls to the strong Prtajin it was always tight for RB. In the end, the second division team couldn’t get the ball over the line – Leipzig struggled to achieve success.
Now against Bayern, ManCity and Hannover
The Bulls now continue in the Bundesliga on Saturday (6.30 p.m., live ticker at sportschau.de) against FC Bayern Munich, four weeks later Manchester City awaits in the Champions League. It won’t be quite as high-profile for Wehen-Wiesbaden, but hosts Hannover 96 on Saturday (1 p.m., live ticker at sportschau.de) are close to the top in the second division.