Last year’s finalist SC Freiburg has reached the quarter-finals of the DFB Cup. Coach Christian Streich’s team struggled against second division SV Sandhausen on Tuesday evening, but still won 2-0 (0 :0). In front of 11,782 spectators, Sandhausen fought against the impending end, but missed out on reaching the last eight for the first time since the 1985/86 season.
In the first two rounds, Freiburg had a hard time winning after extra time against second division teams. Coach Streich had already feared that the SVS would be well prepared for Freiburg’s attacking efforts. “We know what’s coming. They will be in a good position. Partly because Alois is the coach there,” he said about his colleague Alois Schwartz the day before the Baden-Württemberg duel. You know and appreciate each other. During their playing days they trained together at the Stuttgarter Kickers and later Schwartz sat in on his leave of absence in Nuremberg at Streich im Breisgau. And the SC coach should be right.
The SVS held back compactly and the Sport-Club only managed two promising final positions through Roland Sallai (5th/6th). The Hungarian, who made steam down the right wing, was one of five new players after the 5-1 draw at Borussia Dortmund last Saturday. Schwartz had accepted the underdog role without hesitation, but at the same time saw a small opportunity for his team. “They’ve lost twice away from home now,” he said just before the game. “I hope the confidence isn’t that great. We need a good day, a good goalkeeper, a bit of match luck. Then maybe we have a chance.”
However, the SVS had to wait more than half an hour for a chance to score. Most of the time, the ball won in their own half was quickly returned because the North Badeners acted much too hectically. Janik Bachmann fired the first shot on goal (33′). But this was not a problem for U21 national goalkeeper Noah Atubolu, who deputized for the Sport-Club regular keeper Mark Flekken. However, Freiburg continued to struggle and Streich loudly vented his displeasure with gestures and shouts. In the minutes before the break, his team picked up the pace again, but Michael Gregoritsch aimed his shot too high (37′) and former SVS pro Lukas Kübler also headed wide (41′).
Even after the change of sides, the sports club sometimes had more than 70 percent possession of the ball. The Bundesliga sixth made it but still too little. Streich reacted and brought in a second striker in Lucas Höler, but Vincenzo Grifo had the most dangerous chance. The shot was blocked by an SVS defender (70′). In the end, however, the favorites still celebrated because the ball bounced off Al Ghaddioui’s arm and into their own goal. Substitute Petersen also scored in added time.