Big names fall in German Cup

Eintracht Braunschweig became the first top-flight side to tumble out of this season’s competition Sunday after falling to Arminia Bielefeld, while Bremen followed them soon after thanks to a 3-1 loss in extra time to Saarbrücken.

Mönchengladbach and Nuremberg lost on penalties to Darmstadt and Sandhausen respectively.

Top-flight clubs Eintracht Frankfurt, Hamburg, Stuttgart, Hertha BSC and Hannover progressed, joining the likes of Borussia Dortmund and Wolfsburg - among Saturday’s winners - in the second round.

At Saarbrücken’s Stadium Ludwigspark, with Bremen goalkeeper Sebastian Mielitz in shaky form, it was hardly surprising the underdog hosts took the lead.

On the cusp of half-time, Mielitz came for but could not claim Christian Eggert’s free-kick into the area, and some more shoddy defensive work from Bremen handed Nils Fischer a sight at goal. He duly converted, lashing home to put his side into a lead they held for nearly 15 minutes of play.

This time, it was Saarbrücken’s turn to defend unconvincingly, allowing Austrian defender Sebastian Prödl to put his side on level terms once more.

But there was to be several more twists left in the tale, with the first coming from the boot of substitute Tim Stegerer. Allowed too much time on the ball, he swung inside before unleashing a shot that took a wicked deflection, giving Mielitz no chance as it bounced in.

Bremen pushed high to find a way back into the match, but that left them short at the back in the 112th minute. That was when Saarbrücken sealed the match, with Marcel Ziemer finishing off a counter-attack to send Bremen tumbling out of the competition.

A Sunday of upsets

Third-tier club Darmstadt pulled off their own upset, dumping Borussia Mönchengladbach out from the penalty spot after both normal and extra-time finished 0-0.

Braunschweig - preparing for their first Bundesliga season since the 1984-85 campaign - would not be heartened by their 2-1 loss at Arminia Bielefeld. Tim Jerat's penalty on 72 minutes was to enough to start Braunschweig's campaign off on a poor note and hand second-division outfit Bielefeld the first sizeable scalp of this season's German Cup.

Nuremberg were knocked out of the competition at the hands of second division Sandhausen. After a 1-1 draw the sides went to penalties, but misses from Hanno Balitsch and Marvin Plattenhardt meant The Club became the fourth Bundesliga side eliminated on the day.

In a lower league matchup, Matthew Taylor was the hero yet again as third-tier Preussen Münster knocked second division St. Pauli out of the cup with a 1-0 victory.

Favorites win

There was no such drama for Stuttgart or Hamburg. Vedad Ibisevic scored the goals in the former’s 2-0 win over Berlin Dynamo, while Hamburg overcame some early shyness in front of goal to trounce Schott Jena 4-0.

Hannover eased past Victoria Hamburg 2-0 thanks to goals from Artur Sobiech and Szabolcs Huszti.  Hertha BSC had rather more work to do against Neumünster, scraping through after Sami Allagui converted a 120th-minute penalty.

It took Eintracht Frankfurt longer than they would have liked to break the deadlock against Illertissen, but new signing Joselu's goal in the 64th minute was well-deserved. Sebastian Rode added a second in stoppage time to seal the victory.

Other winners were Greuther Fürth and FSV Frankfurt.