1.FC Kaiserslautern moved into the round of 16 of the DFB Cup after a strong, fighting performance. In the end there was a very narrow win against 1.FC Köln, who had been disappointing for a long time.
The celebration on the Betzenberg knew no bounds: After a courageous performance, 1.FC Kaiserslautern moved into the round of the last 16 teams in the DFB Cup. FCK coach Dirk Schuster’s team narrowly won 3-2 (1-0) against Bundesliga club 1.FC Cologne. It was a real cup thriller.
FC coach Steffen Baumgart’s team disappointed for much of the game and started their comeback too late. The goals for Kaiserslautern were scored by Richmond Tachie (19th) and Kenny Redondo (47th) and Marlon Ritter (64th). Florian Kainz (71st) and Mark Uth (81st) scored the goals for Cologne.
Kaiserslautern as if it were hyped up
“It was a very hot evening. In the end it was unnecessarily tight. We are happy that we are through“, said FCK managing director Thomas Hengen on the birthday of club legend Fritz Walter, who would have turned 103 on Tuesday.
The Palatinate team started confidently against the highly concentrated Cologne team. Intense duels dominated the early stages. However, the longer the game lasted, the more dangerous the team from Kaiserslautern became. Cologne tried to hold back, but the hosts, supported by around 50,000 enthusiastic spectators, seemed excited at times.
Boyd misses good opportunities
This euphoria on the Betzenberg was also reflected in the results early on. Tachie’s deflected shot from around 22 meters flew into the Cologne net to make it 1-0. As a result, Cologne had significantly more possession of the ball than their opponents, but hardly had any idea how to get in front of the Lauter goal. The people of Cologne radiated great harmlessness.
Coach Dirk Schuster’s team, on the other hand, withdrew further and tried to take advantage of mistakes made by the Rhinelanders. After 32 minutes, FCK attacker Terence Boyd almost benefited from a hair-raising bad pass from Dejan Ljubicic near the halfway line, but Boyd’s chip clearly missed the abandoned Cologne goal. And just seven minutes later it was Boyd again who failed to get the ball past FC goalkeeper Marvin Schwäbe from close range.
Pressure phase from Cologne
The second half had barely begun when the Lauterers made it 2-0. After a counterattack, Redondo converted from twelve meters, completely free. However, the Cologne team coped with the deficit quite well. Linton Maina was unlucky with his long-range shot just three minutes later, it only hit the crossbar of the FCK goal.
This was initially followed by a very short period of pressure from Cologne, in which they at least kept getting closer to the Lauterer goal. However, this enthusiasm was quickly curbed when Ritter scored his team’s third goal with a direct free kick.
Uth scores with his head, Kainz sees red
But the people of Cologne didn’t want to give up. They increased the pace again. And Kainz somewhat fortunately curled a free kick past friend and foe from the left side of the penalty area into the goal to make it 3-1. FCK goalkeeper Julian Krahl didn’t look good in this situation. Shortly afterwards, Uth reduced the score to 3:2 with a header.
In the game, which was extremely hectic in the final phase, Kainz was shown a red card after a serious foul in midfield (84′). Curious: Five minutes earlier, Eric Martel, who was substituted and had already been warned with a yellow card, had already seen yellow and red for constantly complaining on the side of the field.
The people of Lauter saved themselves across the finish line with their last strength against the much improved team from Cologne who woke up too late.