In another continuous rain in Saarland, third division team 1. FC Saarbrücken prevailed against Borussia Mönchengladbach and are sensationally in the semi-finals of the DFB Cup. Saarbrücken won 2-1 (1-1) thanks to a goal in stoppage time.
Saarbrücken will face 1. FC Kaiserslautern at home in the semi-finals on April 2nd. The next day, the only Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen welcomes their neighbors Fortuna Düsseldorf.
Again, heavy rain and wet grass played important roles in Saarland. After the original game was canceled due to rain in February, both teams benefited from the pitch conditions. First, after a mistake by Marcel Gaus, Franck Honorat served his Gladbach colleague Robin Hack, who put the guests in front (8th).
But almost with the counter move, Saarbrücken’s Amine Naifi was a bit lucky to stay on the ball, but sank it into the Gladbach box with a striking long-range shot. In the final phase, Kai Brünker refined his fighting performance to score the acclaimed winning goal in Ludwigspark (90th +3). The Saarlanders are in the semi-finals for the second time in four years.
Brünker: “Such Mentality monster with us”
“Semi-finals – that sounds insane”said a stunned Kai Brünker on ZDF, “Fuck, that was a fight. Gladbach did very well on the pitch. But we are such mentality monsters!” 1. FC Saarbrücken is in a cup semi-final for the fifth time.
His coach Rüdiger Ziehl said: “That was a very, very hard piece of work. It was a very wild game. In the second half we had very little relief – absolutely crazy.” Gladbach’s Julian Weigl said in dismay: “We have to score at least two, if not three goals in the first half. We were the more dominant team, but we can’t let ourselves be countered in the 90th minute.” And he added: “We’ve just noticed that the cup is very important to our fans. We’re brutally disappointed, it’s a hard blow.”
Researchers start with a lot of speculation
From the start, both teams played forward – driven by the hope of one or two “slips” on the part of their opponents. In addition to the slippery ground conditions, the newly laid turf in Saarbrücken’s Ludwigspark compressed in many places under the game’s steps and caused additional stability problems.
The hosts created their first chance when Kasim Rabihic flicked the ball onto the goal from the left, but managed a little too little effort (3′). The Gladbachers, however, took advantage of their first chance: Bayern’s defeater Gaus misjudged a ball when the ball didn’t bounce up as usual. Honorat spiked the ball and sprinted to the baseline at top speed. Hack waited in the backcourt, was served perfectly and converted, placed low on the left, to take the lead.
Just two minutes later, the home team forced an equalizer: With a bit of luck, Naifi kept the ball on a counterattack and shot irresistibly from a central position. Moritz Nicolas in the Gladbacher Fohlen goal stretched but had no chance.
Nicole Seyffert, Sportschau, March 12, 2024 10:42 p.m
After 15 minutes: Gladbach turns up the heat
As a result, the Bundesliga club turned up the heat and had a number of the best chances to score. But with the luck of the capable ones, the Saarbrücken team prevented them from falling behind again: Bjarne Thoelke cleared with an “octopus leg” against the generally hapless Rocco Reitz (14th), Lukas Boeder was just in the right place when Honorat had a 100% opportunity to score from just over five meters on the goal line (18th). In addition, Hack fell too far behind at the penalty spot when he had a blueprint for the chance that led to 1-0 (21′).
The FCS clearly fell behind, but still stayed in the game. And out of nowhere, Naifi almost gave the hosts the lead again (40th).
Section two: Saarbrücken at full throttle again
As soon as the second half started, the blue-blacks finished again. The hard-working Kai Brünker wanted to capitalize on Patrick Sontheimer’s cross from the left with his head, but was decisively disrupted by the Fohlen’s defense (47′).
An hour had been played when Robin Hack missed a good opportunity to give Borussia the lead for the second time. Gladbach’s derby double goalscorer saw that FCS keeper Schreiber was standing too far in front of his goal and then slipped away – but the Gladbacher’s lob only fell on the roof of the goal.
Hard work on the soft ground
As the ground became increasingly deeper, both teams found it increasingly difficult to put together orderly moves. Again and again the ball remained in puddles or simply stopped too early.
Fohlen coach Gerardo Seoane let his team act more offensively in the final phase of regular time, but Saarbrücken held on. However, the third division team increasingly lacked the strength to create good scoring chances of their own. Nevertheless, Bühler had a chance to shoot after a free kick in stoppage time, but did not bring the ball decisively into the visitors’ goal.
But then the counterattack that made Saarbrücken celebrate: Brünker used a pass from Fabio Di Michele Sanchez from around eleven meters. After the cup successes against Karlsruher SC (2nd Bundesliga) and the first division clubs Eintracht Frankfurt and Bayern Munich, feelings of happiness are once again flooding the entire Saarland.
As a third division team, Saarbrücken has home advantage against the higher-class 1. FC Kaiserslautern in the semi-finals on April 2nd.