1. FC Saarbrücken missed the next sensation of the 2023/24 season in the DFB Cup against 1. FC Kaiserslautern. The Lauterers won 2-0 (0-0) in Saarbrücken on Tuesday (04/02/24). For the second division club FCK, it is the ninth chance to win the big German pot; the Palatinate team has already been successful twice in their cup history.
Marlon Ritter’s header in the 53rd minute was the much celebrated opening goal for the “Red Devils from Betzenberg”. He benefited from a major blunder by FCS goalkeeper Tim Schreiber, who allowed the ball to slip through his legs while kneeling. Schreiber had shown very good performances many times during the competition and helped enormously in ensuring that Saarbrücken was represented in the cup competition for so long.
Semi-final arrow right To the live ticker: Saarbrücken – Kaiserslautern Arrow right
In the 75th minute, Almamy Touré headed in a standard situation and made the final score. Long after the final whistle, the fans of both teams celebrated their teams in Saarbrücken’s Ludwigspark.
During the course of the competition, Saarbrücken was able to eliminate the Bundesliga clubs Bayern Munich, Eintracht Frankfurt and Borussia Mönchengladbach as well as the second division Karlsruher SC. “That hurts extremely. We don’t have to lose the game. We made one mistake,” said coach Rüdiger Ziehl to the Sportschau, “despite all the frustration and disappointment, we played a great cup competition.”
Kaiserslautern coaching legend Friedhelm Funkel saw his match plan confirmed: “We couldn’t let ourselves be countered. Bayern Munich failed here, Borussia Mönchengladbach failed here,” said the 70-year-old in the sports show. “The first half wasn’t good. The opponent has nine men in front of their own penalty area. We don’t have the playful resources. Otherwise we wouldn’t be 16th in the table in the second league,” said Funkel.
FCS brave, FCK extremely cautious
Coach Rüdiger Ziehl’s Saarbrücken team got off to a better start in the game. The third division team exerted a lot of pressure, especially on the left side. Marcel Gaus in particular had many of his special little appearances in the opening minutes: the outside player carried his throw-ins into the six-yard box. Gaus had six such opportunities in the first six minutes, but none resulted in a scoring opportunity.
Kaiserslautern acted cautiously and initially only focused on counterattacking. And the only significant advance might have ended with Morten Ritter taking the lead. But FCS captain Manuel Zeitz showed a perfect eye when tackling the nimble Lauter attacker.
Later, a header from Brünker did not find its way into the goal (40th), and the goal would not have been recognized due to a set-off position.
First louder conclusion after 47 minutes
After the break, the hosts did more for the game again – and Lautern waited for its chance. Filip Kaloč’s shot from 24 meters was the home team’s first attempt on goal – in the 48th minute. Five minutes later the visitors’ surprise goal came, in which Almamy Touré had fed Ritter with a cross from the right.
The goal didn’t change the course of the game: Saarbrücken took the game, Lautern, now even more defensive, waited like a snake in cover.
And once again the visitors’ tactics almost worked: But Aaron Opoku, who came onto the pitch after half an hour in place of the injured Kenny Redondo, was cleared off by Zeitz with a hard tackle. Lautern’s players and Funkel loudly and vehemently demanded a red card for the hosts’ captain – but Fritz prudently left it at yellow.
Lautern strikes ice cold again
As expected, the intensity of the game increased – while the quality of play began to suffer more and more. When Tymoteusz Puchacz found the head of the incoming Touré perfectly with a stationary ball from the left side, the defeat of the brave Saarlanders was as good as sealed.
Saarbrücken fought back, there were awkward situations, a pack formation (four yellow cards) couldn’t be missed – and then Brünker almost scored the next goal, but he shot over the goal from a center forward position (80th). On the other side, Filip Stojilković tested the Saarbrücken keeper with a powerful volley, who in this situation made a brilliant save to prevent the ball from being scored.
Lautern’s final opponent between Fortuna Düsseldorf and Bayer Leverkusen will be determined on Wednesday (04/03/24).