A third division team is becoming the feared opponent of the Bundesliga clubs: 1. FC Saarbrücken, after FC Bayern Munich, also threw Eintracht Frankfurt out of the DFB Cup. Kai Brünker and Luca Kerber scored the goals in the 2-0 (0-0) win on Wednesday (December 6th, 2023) and crowned an outstanding team performance. Frankfurt, on the other hand, disappointed once again.
“I am overjoyed and extremely proud of the entire team performance. This cannot be put into words“said Brünker in the Sportschau interview. “It felt great on the pitch and the win was deserved. We have to show this mentality again in the next round and of course we want to win there too.”
Frankfurt’s sports director Markus Krösche was against it “sour” and referred to the exit as “brutally disappointing“.”We defended poorly and had no solution going forward. Football is about accepting duels; we can’t always just play nicely. We have to put our finger on the wound” said the 43-year-old.
Frankfurt was still lucky at the beginning
It is clear that a lot is required to be able to defeat FC Bayern. However, the Saarbrücken team also showed in the round of 16 against Frankfurt that the 2-1 win in the second round against the record champions was not a one-off coincidence. The third division team defended strongly from the first minute and repeatedly played courageously forward. The initial phase belonged to the newcomers, Eintracht – currently not in top form anyway – had big problems.
Initially only a few centimeters were missing and this would have been reflected in the result. In the 17th minute, after a short corner, Kasim Rahibic tested Kevin Trapp, who deflected the shot forward at the feet of Luca Kerber – but the central midfielder was able to poke the ball past Trapp, and Eintracht was just in front of the line. Defensively still there.
Less than three minutes later, that was no longer the case. This time the Saarbrücken team brought in a sharp corner, Kai Brünker came completely free in the penalty area to head the ball and took the celebrated lead for the hosts (20th minute). However, because Amine Naifi had committed a foul on Robin Koch, referee Daniel Siebert overturned the goal according to the video images. Luckily for Frankfurt it remained 0-0.
Saabrücke’s clerk was idle for 53 minutes
These opportunities were a warning to the Bundesliga club. Coach Dino Toppmöller’s team then at least started to get involved in the cup fight and held up better. There was still little to nothing going forward, but nothing was going at the back until half-time. Saarbrücken had a double chance a few minutes before the break, but in the end things didn’t get really difficult.
And things remained quiet in front of the two goals in the second half. At least the Frankfurters were on the offensive, Omar Marmoush fired the first shot into the opponent’s box (54′) – but Saabrücken’s goalkeeper Tim Schreiber was able to easily parry the attempt, which was too central.
Brünker nets again – and this time it counts
The 21-year-old was able to excel even more offensively. Because Schreiber was involved in Saarbrücken’s 1-0 win. Naifi let a long ball from the goalkeeper trickle down to Brünker, who went around William Pacho in a small space and placed the ball in the short corner with a powerful left-foot shot (64′). And this time his goal counted.
Saarbrücken is very close to the next sensation – and Frankfurt to its fourth defeat in a row. Most recently, Eintracht had already lost twice in the league and one game in the Conference League, both 1-2, and they were still very far from threatening to score against the third division team in the first 75 minutes. There were no successful offensive actions either from the game or from standard situations.
Kerber and Frankfurt’s Futkeu decide the game
What was particularly impressive about Saarbrücken was that the third division team struck against FC Bayern in the final phase, and their strength also held up against Frankfurt. And the hosts remained the more dangerous team – and took another step towards the quarter-finals. After a cross, Brünker got the ball in the face, but passed it straight to Kerber, who only had to push in from four meters to make it 2-0 (78th).
Ecstasy and euphoria in Saarbrücken. The club had already reached the semi-finals in its last cup participation in the 2019/20 season, and was now on the verge of making it to the last eight. And that was becoming more and more likely, because Noel Futkeu, who had just been substituted, did Frankfurt a further disservice – the striker was shown a red card after an attack (83′).
And with that the way was finally clear for the people of Saarbrücken. And as important and gratifying as this success was for the club, the officials, players and fans, it especially pays off for lower-class clubs in the cup. For reaching the quarter-finals, Saarbrücken will now also receive a bonus of over 1.7 million euros.