DFB Pokal, Semifinals 3/4-5 [R]

[olafgb]

The teams for the final on May 31 in Berlin will be determined tomorrow and Wednesday.

Tuesday, 8.30:
1.FC Kaiserslautern vs SV Werder Bremen

Expected lineups:

Kaiserslautern: Wiese - Grammozis, Ramzy, Knavs, Tchato - Sforza, Lincoln, Anfang, Dominguez - Klose, Lokvenc

Bremen: Wierzchowski - Stalteri, Verlaat, Kristajic - Borowski, Banovic, Ernst, Skripnik - Micoud - Ailton, Daun


Wednesday, 8.30:
FC Bayern Munich vs TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen

Expected lineups:

Munich: Kahn - Hargreaves, R Kovac, Linke, Lizarazu - Jeremies, Ballack - Scholl, Ze Roberto - Pizarro, Elber

Leverkusen: Butt - Balitsch, Zivkovic, Juan (Cris), Placente - Ramelow, Babic - Schneider, Simak, Bierofka - Neuville


If Bayern advances to the final, then the winner of the other game has a secure UEFA Cup spot.

[IASocFan]

If the home teams win, and K'lautern continues their current form in the Liga games, then K'lautern can compete in the UEFA cup from the second division.

[wolfsburgh]

If one believes that history repeats itself, keep in mind that K'lautern won the DFB Pokal the year they were relegated (95-96?), and competed in the Cup Winner's Cup the next year as a 2.Bund. team. Of course, if Jaggi's comments are to be believed, if K'lautern is relegated this year, they won't be playing in any competition next year.

[olafgb]

Originally posted by wolfsburgh
If one believes that history repeats itself, keep in mind that K'lautern won the DFB Pokal the year they were relegated (95-96?), and competed in the Cup Winner's Cup the next year as a 2.Bund. team. Of course, if Jaggi's comments are to be believed, if K'lautern is relegated this year, they won't be playing in any competition next year.

Jäggi already withdrew from his words. Questionable though whether they'd get the licence for 2.Bundesliga.

[wolfsburgh]

K'lautern 3 (Lincoln, Klose, and Timm)
Bremen 0

Boy, is Bremen just sucking these days, or what. Have they won yet in 2003? Lautern will be rooting like hell for Bayern tomorrow--UEFA money will help them maintain their profligate ways.

[olafgb]

Really, that was a poor game. Kaiserslautern already was everything but exciting, but Bremen... just awful. No comparison to what they played last year. 1 pt in 2003 (plus one win at 1860 in the cup after overtime), six straight losses... unbelievable. And there's no real hope in sight the way they play - I wouldn't wonder to see Schaaf being fired if he doesn't win this weekend. Bremen is known for the patient club politics, but in three weeks they'll have lost everything they worked for in 2002. Hell, they almost had a secure Champions League spot over Christmas.

Now Bayer has to win tomorrow more than ever before. A cup final Bayern vs Lautern? No, please, I wouldn't even want to win tickets for this game.

[wolfsburgh]

Olaf, you're spoiled. A cup final in Berlin between the Evil Empire and the new bad boys of German soccer sounds good to me. If you win two tix, send them to me, and I'll send you two tix for the big Pittsburgh Riverhounds/Syracuse Salty Dogs clash at beautiful Bethel Park Stadium.

[SwissGCZ]

Good to see Sforza back in the lineup...

[cjma77]

bayern wins 3-1, great game elber with 2 goals inside a minute. Really great first half could have gone either way, then in the 30 min. bayer keeper misplayed the ball on the scholl corner, which let ballack score. great game all round.

[olafgb]

Originally posted by wolfsburgh
Olaf, you're spoiled. A cup final in Berlin between the Evil Empire and the new bad boys of German soccer sounds good to me. If you win two tix, send them to me, and I'll send you two tix for the big Pittsburgh Riverhounds/Syracuse Salty Dogs clash at beautiful Bethel Park Stadium.

If you pay my flight we could trade the tickets ;). Or I'd watch the women's cup final and leave to the city afterwards, Berlin's always worth a trip :)

Really, I probably did not miss a single cup final in about twenty years - but I don't know why I should watch this one. That's one of the game, in which you want both teams to lose.