DFB-Pokal: Nürnberg Wins Cup, Stuttgart Loses Temper and Double

By: Jan | May 29th, 2007

The Olympiastadion in Berlin, The reopened Fanmeile near the Brandenburg Gate It seems that the public viewing areas of last years World Cup had a lasting impact on German football consumption habits. When the time for the all decisive and important matches of this season came the concept was swiftly revived and 60000 Schalke 04 supporters went to their home ground to watch the Revierderby against Dortmund on giant screens. One week later similar if not higher numbers gathered in Stuttgart’s and Gelsenkirchen’s (home of Schalke 04) city centre to follow the last title deciding matchday. And even the race for promotion to the Bundesliga was celebrated in the same fashion by clubs like Hansa Rostock and MSV Duisburg. Last weekends occasion was the final of the German cup (DFB-Pokal) that is traditionally played at Berlin’s Olympiastadion. The event was accommodated by the reopening of the fan mile near the Brandenburg Gate which attracted a total of 350000 visitors. And Nuremberg and Stuttgart had their own public viewing areas set up as well. Although the festivities were marred by some rough weather this couldn’t stop most of the fans to celebrate a final that fitted in quite well with the rest of the season.

Nurembergs captain Raphael Schäfer lifts the DFB Cup I have to admit that I didn’t really follow the DFB-Pokal finals in recent years. I checked out the results later, had the TV running in the background – something like that. The whole competition had lost a lot of its flair during the nineties which culminated in the abandoning of the Cup Winners’ Cup by the UEFA. In addition to that the cup finals have been dominated by just three teams in the last nine years (counting down from 2006 to 1998): Bayern Munich, Bayern Munich, Werder Bremen, Bayern Munich, Schalke 04, Schalke 04, Bayern Munich, Werder Bremen, Bayern Munich. The cup had been much more balanced and winners varied greatly before those three teams took over. I still enjoyed following the earlier stages though. The cup usually offers a good amount of David vs Goliath stories. And this season actually had plenty of them. Werder Bremen and Hamburger SV graced us with remarkable first round exits against some third/fourth division teams. Schalke 04 followed suit in the second round when second division club 1. FC Köln knocked them out 4:2 after extra time. BTW: I should probably give you a quick insight into the mode of this competition. All the matches in every round are one-off games (90 minutes + extra time/penalty shootout if needed). There are some precautions in the first two rounds to avoid that too many clubs from the first and second Bundesliga are drawn against each other. That’s about it. On to the third round where Bayern Munich fell prey to Allemania Aachen who eliminated them 4:2. An occasion that inspired one fan to compile all the highlights into a little video and add some annoying background music to it. Fast forward to the 26th of May: 1. FC Nürnberg and VfB Stuttgart have reached the final. One won the Bundesliga title the other never came close to the relegation battle but instead finished the season in sixth position which is quite remarkable for this club. Both teams offered us with what the TV commentator called the best final in at least five years.

I thoroughly enjoyed this match as well. I wasn’t really sure which side I should support. I generally have a weak spot for the underdogs but thought that a double win might also be a great finishing touch to VfB Stuttgart’s season. Retelling the action on the pitch is not really my favorite occupation. So I will keep it simple and rely on the power of blocky low res video footage to enhance my words.

Cacau scored the lead for Stuttgart after 20 minutes but Nürnberg was quick to bounce back. Slovak international Marek Mintal equalised just seven minutes later following a quick counter attack. Cacau and Mintal then became the tragic figures of the final although for slightly different reasons. Cacau decided to aim a punch at Andreas Wolf and was rightfully sent off. Just a couple of minutes later Stuttgart’s captain Fernando Meira brutally fouled Mintal and should have been sent off as well. The only reason that probably prevented the referee from doing just that was the fact that Cacau had seen red only minutes earlier. Mintal was brought to a hospital straight away and will face a lengthy injury lay-off. This is especially sad news since he had actually just recently recovered from another lengthy injury. I can’t really understand what was going on in the minds of the Stuttgart players. They basically lost it for about ten minutes before they managed to regain their composure. This stuff always makes me wonder what exactly is going on on the pitch between the players.

Then early into the second half Marco Engelhardt headed home a corner from Pinola to give Nürnberg the lead. I have to give Stuttgart a lot of credit here since you never really felt like they were playing with just 10 men and eventually they managed to bounce back into the game in the 80th minute. Stuttgart was awarded a penalty after some poor defending of Nürnberg’s goalkeeper Raphael Schäfer against Mario Gomez. Their Mexican import Pavel Pardo then scored from the spot and forced the game into extra time.

During extra time a beautiful long range effort by Jan Kristianson found the back of the net to put Nürnberg in front once more. This time Stuttgart’s bouncebackability failed them and after 120 minutes Nürnberg had won the cup. This is Nürnberg’s first silverware of any kind in 39 years. They also earned themselves a spot in next seasons UEFA Cup for the first time in 20 years. Schalke may not have won the German championship for 49 years but at least secured DFB-Pokal and UEFA Cup victories or played Champions League just recently. So probably their fans should lighten up a little and recognise that other clubs had to endure worse things.