5 late Conclusions from the DFB-Pokal Quarter-Final

By: Jan | February 29th, 2008

Da Silva 1. Stuttgart have ultimately botched up their season.
They unceremoniously crashed out of the Champions League and down into the depths of the Bundesliga mid-table section already. The DFB-Pokal remained something of a lifeline for Stuttgart’s season. The quick route to Europe and even the chance for some silverware and thus salvation. The stage was set for a run to the semi-finals with a home game against soon-to-be-third-division second division side Carl Zeiss Jena. 120 minutes and a penalty shootout later and the best they can hope for is an Intertoto Cup spot in the Bundesliga, to at least offer their talented squad a minimally more interesting perspective for the next season.

2. Jena will take a couple of nice cup memories to the third division.
And some money, unless they need it to pay off debts or anything. This team is 8 points away from safety in the second Bundesliga and yet is looking forward to their first ever DFB-Pokal semi-final. The last time they performed better was back in communist East Germany in 1988, when they reached the FDGB cup final.

3. It has been a while for Borussia Dortmund.
Dortmund’s history has been slightly less bleak than Jena’s. Their latest heroic achievement in the DFB-Pokal is only 19 years old, when they won the DFB-Pokal in capitalist West Germany in 1989. Surprisingly for a team like Dortmund, that was the last time they reached the DFB-Pokal semi-final. At least this little blemish has been eradicated with a confident 3-1 victory over second Bundesliga billionaires Hoffenheim on Tuesday.

4. Wolfsburg continue to annoy/impress.
Depending on whether you live in Wolfsburg or not. A dive by Grafite gifted Wolfsburg a penalty and a 1-0 lead over Hamburg. Hamburg otherwise dominated and controlled the game and should have equalised on several occasions already, before a beauty by Rafael van der Vaart levelled the score late in the game. During extra time, the game was then balanced and Hamburg’s packed match schedule started to show, as Huub Stevens’ side looked decidedly more exhausted. It nonetheless took a great individual effort by Wolfsburg’s Marcelinho to keep this match from going into a penalty shootout. This is all Manuel Neuer’s fault really, who couldn’t catch a corner kick in the 90th minute, which would have sent Wolfsburg crashing out last round already. Well…

5. Ribery has an ugly side to him as well.
Franck Ribery has been such an all around positive addition to the Bundesliga so far, that the little incident from the derby against city rivals 1860 probably sticks out even more. The match had gone to extra time, when a push by 1860 defender Benjamin Schwarz caused Ribery to spend the next few minutes rolling around on the pitch, seemingly incredibly seriously injured. Schwarz got his second booking and was sent off, while Ribery probably used the short break to save energy for the game winning, yet wrongly awarded, penalty in the 120th minute. In defence of Bayern it needs to be pointed out, that they had a close penalty call go against them in the 90th minute, which probably evens things out.