Hamburg tread warily on return to German Cup
FRANKFURT: A wary Thomas Doll will take no chances with his team selection when Hamburg SV return to the German Cup against Stuttgarter Kickers on Saturday, a year after they were turfed out of the competition by a corrupt referee.
On Tuesday a European place is at stake for Hamburg when they defend a 1-0 lead at Valencia in the Intertoto Cup, so a trip to face an amateur side would seem a good opportunity to rest players. The coach does not see it that way. Twelve months ago Hamburg lost 4-2 away to SC Paderborn, after conceding two penalties and having Belgian striker Emile Mpenza sent off in a match that was fixed by referee Robert Hoyzer.
The scandal of last year’s exit makes the domestic cup a priority for Hamburg this time and Doll is not about to put the club’s place in jeopardy. “We’ll be going in at full strength,” Doll said. “I was an amateur coach myself for a while and this sort of match provides these clubs with their match of the season.” Hamburg will see the draw for the first round as an extremely good omen. Hamburg beat Stuttgarter Kickers 3-1 in the final of the Cup in 1987.
“I saw the pictures,” Doll said. “It was 18 years ago but it is still fresh in the memory here.” Mpenza is the one first-team regular likely to miss out on Saturday because of a hip injury. Benjamin Lauth stands by to partner Sergej Barbarez up front. Paderborn are also back in action on Saturday against VfL Wolfsburg and will be eager to prove they can provide another upset, this time without the referee’s help. Paderborn won their last game in the second division 5-0 against Saarbrucken so confidence should not be a problem.
Controversial exit: Wolfsburg, by contrast, will be treading extremely carefully after their own controversial exit last term. Wolfsburg were kicked out for fielding Bulgarian Marian Hristov, who was banned at the time, in a 3-0 win over amateurs Cologne in the opening round.
Two other top flight sides face tricky away trips to play second division opposition. Cologne are up against Kickers Offenbach on Saturday, while Borussia Dortmund face Eintracht Braunschweig on Monday. Cologne have won both their games in the league so far but Dortmund have just a point and are looking vulnerable. Bayern Munich, who beat Schalke 04 in last season’s final to complete a league and cup double, have an easy start to their defence against amateurs MSV 1919 Neuruppin in a game being played in Berlin on Sunday. reuters
Hamburg tread warily on return to German Cup Daily Times
Iranian Players in German Cup - Preview
On Saturday Moharram Navidkia should finally have his debut from the beginning for VfL Bochum, as they play away against 4th division side Tennis-Borussia Berlin. At the same time HSV faces Stuttgarter Kickers in a much anticipated game, given that HSV was the most prominent victim of last year's referee and game fixing scandal in Germany, as they were unfairly kicked out of the competition thanks to dubious penalty calls by Robert Hoyzer. However, it seems that Mehdi Mahdavikia will not play from the beginning.
http://www.iransportspress.com/?c=127&a=2015
On Saturday Moharram Navidkia should finally have his debut from the beginning for VfL Bochum, as they play away against 4th division side Tennis-Borussia Berlin. At the same time HSV faces Stuttgarter Kickers in a much anticipated game, given that HSV was the most prominent victim of last year's referee and game fixing scandal in Germany, as they were unfairly kicked out of the competition thanks to dubious penalty calls by Robert Hoyzer. However, it seems that Mehdi Mahdavikia will not play from the beginning.
http://www.iransportspress.com/?c=127&a=2015