Soccer

DFB Pokal 2013-14, First Round Preview: Bundesliga clubs face amateur clubs

The first round of the 2013-14 DFB Pokal kicks off this weekend. We’re looking for upsets.

by Phillip Quinn

Jul 31, 2013, 12:00 PM UTC

Stuart Franklin

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DFB Pokal 2013-14, First Round: Schalke, Bayern Munich move on to the second round

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The 2013-2014 version of the DFB Pokal kicks off on Friday evening, and like most years, we’ll get a lot of Bundesliga clubs against a lot of amateur and semipro clubs. Last year’s champions Bayern Munich will open up the tournament in the final game on Monday afternoon when they travel to face BSV Schwarz-Weiß Rehden. Borussia Dortmund will also be on the road, like every top flight club, as they play SV Wilhelmshaven. Why did I point out those two matches? Well, those are the two that ESPN has deemed worth to put on ESPN3.com for those of us in the United States to watch. The rest will have be found using other ways.

However, like any great cup competition, what we care about in the first round of the event are the upsets. Who are the clubs that need to be wary of an upset? Here are my top five.

Augsburg

The first club on my BEWARE OF THE UPSET list is FC Augsburg. They have the visit Red Bull Arena in order to take on a side that pulled off a big upset two years ago in the competition when they took the scalp of Wolfsburg. Leipzig were eliminated in the second round of the Pokal by, you guessed it, Augsburg. Leipzig won the Regionalliga Nordost last season to earn promotion into the 3.Liga and will put up a strong fight against Augsburg.

Hoffenheim

I know absolutely nothing about SG Aumund-Vegesack; however, I do know that I don’t expect Hoffenheim to be a much better team. They were destroyed by Berliner AK 07 last season in the first round of the Cup, so I have to give Aumund-Vegesack a shot here.

Werder Bremen

I have absolutely zero faith that Robin Dutt can lead Werder Bremen successfully back up the table to their former status. Last season they were upset by Preußen Münster, and this year they’ll visit Saarbrücken in an attempt to stave off another early elimination.

St. Pauli

Die Freibeuter der Liga have to face the previously mentioned Preußen Münster on Sunday afternoon. I like the fact that they play in Münster. Go PIRATES!

Union Berlin

This one only qualifies as an upset due to Union being in the 2.Bundesliga with Jahn Regensburg being in the 3.Liga. The Jahn put up a very tough fight against Bayern Munich last year. Even though Bayern won 4-0, three of those goals came after the 60th minute.