FC St. Pauli lived up to its role as favorite against regional league team FC Homburg – and reached the quarter-finals of the DFB Cup.
The regional league team from Homburg fought back for a long time, but in the end was unable to hold its own against second division club FC St. Pauli. The Hamburg team deservedly won 4:1 (1:1) in Saarland against self-sacrificing Homburg players. This meant that the hosts failed to achieve another cup miracle. Second division team St. Pauli is in the quarter-finals of this competition.
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Hauke Wahl (24th), Elias Saad (64th), Marcel Hartel (68th) and Johannes Eggestein (73rd) scored for the guests. Markus Mendler (28th) scored the equalizer for Homburg.
“It wasn’t a good game for us in the first half. After the break we showed some of our true colors,” said Hartel. Despite the bankruptcy, Homburg’s Mendler spoke of a “very great cup run. It’s a shame that it’s over.”
Matthew Genest-Schön, Sportschau, December 5th, 2023 10:42 p.m
St. Pauli with visual advantages
The Hamburg team took the initiative right from the start and tried to use their playful superiority. However, the regional league team built a real defensive bulwark around their own penalty area and hardly gave their opponents any space to develop.
Coach Fabian Hürzeler’s team had visual advantages, but no significant scoring opportunities. Hürzeler tried to influence his players on the sidelines, but they kept getting stuck. However, the Homburgers did little on the offensive and initially concentrated on defending their own goal.
A standard situation helps the Hamburgers
Nevertheless, St. Pauli managed to take the lead. A standard situation, a corner, ensured that the second division team could celebrate. Eric Smith extended the ball from the left side to Wahl, who made it 1-0 from three meters.
But the joy wasn’t to last long. Just four minutes later, FC St. Pauli brought Homburg, who had dared to cross the halfway line for the first time in a long time, back into the game.
Slapstick hits from the Homburgers
This goal, however, belonged to the “slapstick” category: Karol Mets played a free kick in his own penalty area across to goalkeeper Sascha Burchert, who couldn’t get the ball under control due to a mistake. Mendler took advantage of the chance and shot from three meters into the empty goal to equalize.
The picture hardly changed in the second round either. St. Pauli had the ball, Homburg did everything to keep Hamburg away from their own goal. The Hürzeler team repeatedly cut their teeth on the determined and committed Homburgers.
St. Pauli remains persistent
But FC St. Pauli didn’t let themselves be discouraged, tried again and again – and was successful. Saad was the one who outsmarted the briefly careless Homburg defense and picked up Smith’s cross at the right moment, “danced out” goalkeeper Tom Kretzschmar and made it 2-1.
And just four minutes later the preliminary decision: Paulis Hartel shot from 16 meters and the ball hit the top left corner to make it 3-1. The spell was finally broken.
The Hamburg team followed up and increased further: Eggestein took advantage of a setup error by the Saarlanders and converted from 16 meters to make the deserved final score 4-1.
