DFB-Pokal 2012, Quarterfinals: Bayern & ‘Gladbach Advance, Hoffenheim Stunned

The draw for the DFB Pokal Semifinals was completed Saturday evening in Berlin. The top three teams in the Bundesliga are still involved in the competition along with the current fourth place side in the 2.Bundesliga. The matches are scheduled to take place March 20 and 21.

Fürth are currently sitting in fourth place in the 2.Bundesliga and are primed to make another run at getting into one of the top three positions for a shot at promotion. They always seem to miss out on the promotion playoffs by just a few points. They’ve had quite the interesting run to get to the semifinals. The last two rounds have seen them pick up 1-0 victories on the road against Bundesliga sides Nürnberg and Hoffenheim. While neither of those clubs are of the quality of their opponents in the semifinals, the fact that they were able to go on the road and pick up two clean sheet victories against Bundesliga clubs is quite impressive.

Bayern Munich hasn’t been so great lately in Bundesliga play, but they didn’t have any problems in Wednesday’s DFB-Pokal quarterfinal at Stuttgart. They dominated from the very opening kick and rode goals by Franck Ribery and Mario Gomez to a 2-0 win and spot in the semifinals.

It wasn’t all good for Bayern Munich though and nothing went their way early on. Bastian Schweinsteiger hobbled off the field after just 15 minutes with an ankle injury and the day looked looked doomed. Then, Toni Kroos hit the cross bar and sent another shot just over the top of the bar. It looked like the gods were working against Bayern.

Holstein Kiel advanced through three rounds of the DFB-Pokal without conceding a goal, but they finally met their match in the quarterfinals of the competition against Bundesliga champions Borussia Dortmund. They upset Bundesliga side Mainz in the last round, but the second-placed team in the fourth-tier Regionalliga Nord was unable to overcome Der BVB, who coasted to a 4-0 victory.

The home side actually looked very lively and able to cope with their visitors in the opening 10 minutes, but once they gave up a goal, the match felt all but over. Following a botched clearance in the 11th minute, Ivan Perisic played an overhead kick pass into the penalty area for Robert Lewandowski, who had a simple finish to give his team the lead.

For the most part, the quarterfinals of the 2011-12 DFB-Pokal looks like it should. The country’s two best teams, Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, still remain in the competition. There are four other Bundesliga teams remaining, none of which are in the drop zone. There’s one 2. Bundesliga side remaining, SpVgg Greuther Fürth. They’re third in the second division with the best goal differential and they’ve been in the top half of the second division for a decade.

Then, there’s Holstein Kiel. They’re second in their region of the fourth tier of German football, sitting behind RB Leipzig in the Regionalliga Nord. Though there’s no shame in sitting behind a rich team funded by a large soft drink company, the point still stands that this is a fourth division team. Not only a fourth division team, but one unlikely to get promoted to the third division this season. They have made it all the way to the quarterfinals of the German Cup.