Miracles in football exist and to make them a reality, national Cup competitions were created. In Spain we have seen how Unionistas, from Primera RFEF, eliminated Villarreal. Or to the Arandina of Second RFEF removing Cádiz CF from the tournament. Although the reality is that if it is already difficult for a modest team to knock down one of the biggest in their country, advancing two rounds is practically unthinkable. It is because of that The most special competition of this season is, without a doubt, the German Cup. And for the first time in the history of the tournament, only one Bundesliga team has reached the semifinals and it could not be other than Xabi Alonso’s Bayern Leverkusenwho has not lost a single game throughout the course.
This Tuesday the first big duel will take place at 8:45 p.m., in a semifinal that will face Saarbrücken y Kaiserslautern, from the Third and Second Division. The first is being the great revelation of this Cup. Nicknamed the ‘German giant killer’, has been knocking down the heavyweights of the Bundesliga one by one. First, Bayern Munich in the round of 32, then Eintracht in the round of 16 and, finally, Borussia Mönchengladbach, in the quarterfinals. Although few know that behind this modest there is a club that created ‘the first Champions League’ and beat Real Madrid at the Bernabéu.
The second finalist will be decided on Wednesday at the same time, when the Leverkusen will be measured at Fortuna Düsseldorf, from Second, which returns to a semifinal 28 years later. Another historic duel between two teams from western Germany, separated only by 30 kilometers.
Saarbrücken, a giant killer
On the banks of the Saar River and bordering the French region of Lorraine (keep this fact), the city of Saarbrücken has been vibrating for a few months. And all thanks to Saarbrücken’s role in the German Cup, which is not precisely the strongest team in its category. In fact, They are tenth in the standings and four years ago they were in the Fourth Division.
The epic began on November 1, when Halloween night was extended by 24 hours to Bayern Munich, who were eliminated 2-1 after two goals that overcame Müller’s initial goal, the last in the 96th minute. Not content with this, they also ended the cup-winning path of two other First Division teams to get into the semifinals. They destroyed Eintracht 2-0 and Monchengladbach 2-1. The winning goal also came, this time, in injury time.
Two games separate them from achieving glory and the best of all is that they know how to do it, since they know a lot about feats that remain etched in the memory of football fans. Curiously, Their rival in the semi-finals is a priori the ‘easiest’ of all they have faced: FC Kaiserslautern, Bundesliga 2 team. Home again. Once again with reasons to believe in victory.
Already in the 2019/20 season they reached the semifinals of the tournament, leaving behind Jahn Regensburg in the first round, Cologne in the second, Kahrlsruher in the round of 16 and Fortuna Düsseldorf in the quarterfinals. Destiny or chance, it was Bayer Leverkusen who deprived them of the dream of stepping on the Berlin Olympics. Now they want to meet Xabi Alonso’s men again in the final, because although the Spanish coach’s men are reigning in German football this season, they are not being left behind.
A team ‘without a country’
He Saarbrücken was officially founded in 1909 and behind it hides a history of vetoes and obstacles in the way. The first of his problems came after the Second World War. The wounds of the conflict were still open and the clubs from Alsace and Lorraine, forced to compete in the Gauliga (German football’s top category) during the Nazi occupation, refused to admit Saarbrücken, arguing that “Saarland citizens would never be Germans”. Thus, between 1947 and 1956, the Saarland territory was occupied by the Gauls, thus forming the Saar Protectorate.
Saarbrücken players celebrate their passage to the semi-finals of the German Cup / Instagram account @ersterfcs
For this reason, during the 1948/49 season they played in Ligue 2. And since they have the epic impregnated in their roots, they won that same campaign the French competition. Yes, this modest German club was ahead of historical teams such as Girondins Bordeaux (2nd), RC Lens (3rd), Le Havre (5th), Nantes (9th), Olympique de Lyon (10th) or Monaco (12th).
Although being champions gave them the right to play in Ligue 1 and their electric football earned the respect of Jules Rimet, the endorsement of the former president of FIFA and the country’s Federation was not enough for the First Division teams to open the doors of Ligue 1. So They went, they saw, they won and they had to return to Germany.
They created ‘the first Champions League’ and beat Madrid 0-4 at the Bernabéu
Repudiated by France, the next obstacle was that their level was too high for the humble Sarrean league. That’s when the team got creative. “We need to survive, What if we invented a competition between the best teams in Europe?“, they must have thought at that moment. Said and done. In 1950 the so-called Saarland International Cup was borna competition that awarded two million francs to the winner, which attracted the big clubs of Europe and became the precedent of the European Cuppredecessor of the Champions League.
That same year, the Germans performed their first recital at a major event. At Anfield they won 1-4 with a hat-trick of his ram Herbert Binkert, who even called Saarbrücken “the best foreign minister in the Saarland.” In February 1951, The Germans also gave the team a 0-4 Real Madrid in the recently inaugurated Chamartín. For 70 years now there was no giant that could resist them.
UEFA did not forget Saarbrücken’s contribution in consolidating the confrontations between the best teams on the continent, so invited the Sarres champion to compete in the first edition of the European Cup. The stage for his debut had to live up to his prestige: San Siro. There he gave his last measures of glory, which were recorded in his particular history book, beating a Milan that had Nordahl, Liedholm and Schiaffino in its ranks by 3-4after coming back from 3-1.
Despite its football hegemony, the massive rejection of the so-called Saar Statute in that year (1955) made the annexation of the region to the Federal Republic of Germany impossible, which was a dynamite for the club. The team began to lose its best members due to the refusal of its leaders to become professional. and Europe gradually forgot about that extraordinary squad, without a homeland and currently fighting to survive in the German Third Division. But he still has that spirit of ‘David’ inside him, to fight against any ‘Goliath’ that appears. Next up, Kaiserlautern.
Kaiserslautern and Fortune Düsseldorf: modest with lots of history
This season’s German Cup seems to have decided not to accept any team that does not have a story worthy of a Spielberg movie behind it. As if Saarbrücken were not enough, the Kaiserslautern, a historical figure who was active in Tercera a year and a half ago. The Cup is now his hope to return to the international radar.
Kaiserslautern celebrates its place in the semi-finals of the German Cup. / ‘X’ account @Rote_Teufel
The historic team that won the Bundesliga in 1998 reached the quarterfinals with a 2-0 victory against Nuremberg, in the first game of their new coach, Dimitrios Grammozis. The Rhineland team has its hope in this competition, since in the league they are fifteenth, just one point away from relegation.
On the other side of the painting is another historic one from the German Second Division, the Fortuna Düsseldorf. And the fact is that the one who was champion in 1979 and 1980 seems determined to awaken his old habits and will play again, 28 years later, in the semi-finals of the German Cup, after beat St.Pauli 3-4 in the penalty shootout.
Leverkusen, unique ‘Goliat’ in magpie
The only Bundesliga team that is eligible to lift the title is Bayer Leverkusenthose of Tuchel have raised in the last 11 years
His last great feat was reaching the quarterfinals of the Europa League. When it seemed that the moment was going to come for the first defeat of the course, The Germans turned 1-2 into 3-2 in four minutesthanks to two goals from Patrik Schick in the 93rd and 96th minutes. The epic comebacks in stoppage time came from Xabi Alonso from home and seems to have reached his pupils.
Bayer Leverkusen players celebrate reaching the quarterfinals of the Europa League. / EFE / CRISTOPHER NEUNDORF
Much of this waste of quality is due to the fact that if as a footballer he was characterized by calm and control of the ball, as a coach he is betting on a system that favors speed much more. For this he has one of the most lethal duos in Europe: his two full-backs (Grimaldo and Frimpong) who are making ‘the lane society’ fashionable, being one of the couples that participates in almost as many goals as the best attackers in Europe, scoring 22 goals so far this season.
In short, in this whirlwind of emotions and epic deeds, FC Saarbrücken has risen from the ashes as a true giant-killer in the German Cup. From his humble position to taking on renowned teams and standing up to them. On the other side are two teams whose history has been marked by obstacles and challenges. And then there is Bayern Leverkusen, who have gone from flirting with relegation to aspiring to everything in one year.
Each sheep with its flock and each flock with its particular story behind it. AND all with a common denominator: they arrive with a desire for titles. And the four semi-finalist teams have either never won the Cup or it has been more than two decades since their last victory (Leverkusen, 1993; Kaiserslautern, 1996 and Düsseldorf in 1933). This year’s German Cup is being a reflection of the very essence of sport, where fighting spirit can overcome any rational assumption. Competitions like this are what remind us that in football, as in life, there are no limits to what can be achieved with determination and heart.
2024-04-02 06:07:32
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