In a sense, the match between Stuttgart and Freiburg in the second round of the cup was the top game of Cup Wednesday just because both teams were in the first division. And actually the 1-0 (1-0) was a varied game that was opened by a strong combination of the Stuttgart. Via Mateo Klimowicz and Gonzalo Castro, the ball came to Sasa Kalajdzic, who pushed through the legs of former Stuttgart goalkeeper Benjamin Uphoff (15th minute).
If Stuttgart dominated the first round, Freiburg got stronger after the break. Shots on goal were rare, only Stuttgart’s substitute goalkeeper Fabian Bredlow made it exciting: First he let an outbound ball bounce forward to save against Ermedin Demirović’s margin (60th). He then parried a shot from an acute angle by Grifo after failing to hit a ball properly (71.).
After Stuttgart was promoted to the Bundesliga in the summer, the team took a strong seventh place during the winter break. The entry into the round of 16 of the DFB Cup crowns VfB’s year.
SV Werder Bremen didn’t have much trouble winning the north duel at Hannover 96. When the green-whites 3-0 (2-0), the Bremen full-backs gave the starting shot: left-back Ludwig Augustinsson made his way on the wing, his flank reached Augustinsson’s right-wing counterpart Gebre Selassie at the far post. While Sargent attracted two opponents in the center, the Czech hit the Bremen lead by direct acceptance (29th). Three minutes later, Werder captain Niklas Moisander dribbled over three opponents, and Sargent used the following pass to make it 2-0 (32nd).
After the break, Tahith Chong missed the preliminary decision in front of goalkeeper Michael Ratajczak (47th). In cooperation with Manuel Mbom, Chong did his job better: After a one-two with the Dutchman, Mbom poked the ball into his first goal for Werder’s professional team (60th). In the past seasons, the Bremen team has always reached at least the quarter-finals in the cup, thanks to the success in the second division, the place in the round of 16 is initially booked.
Second division Jahn Regensburg also made it into the round of 16 of the DFB Cup. Until it got really interesting at 4: 2 (0: 0, 0: 0, 0: 0) after penalties against third division SV Wehen Wiesbaden, the teams fought a tough exchange for 120 minutes.
The game rarely developed, the few good chances were missed: Phillip Tietz shot the ball over the Regensburg Gate from close range for contractions, Max Besuschkow had the lead for the guests, but poked the ball from four meters only on the posts (45th + 1). The Wiesbaden team gave away the chance of a lucky win through Maurice Malone at the end of regular time (90th + 1). After an extra time in which Regensburg was the better team, missed shots by Tietz and Dominik Prokop helped the guests to advance on penalties.
