St. Pauli ends Homburg's cup fairytale
Even a curious goal is not enough: second division leaders St. Pauli crush fourth division club FC Homburg. The Hamburg side advance to the quarter-finals of the DFB Cup after a strong second half.
Second division leaders FC St. Pauli have ended the cup fairytale of rebellious FC Homburg. Coach Fabian Hürzeler's team prevailed 4:1 (1:1) at the Saarland regional league club despite conceding a curious goal and reached the quarter-finals of the DFB Cup, as they did two years ago.
After the victories in the first two rounds against Darmstadt 98 (3:0) and SpVgg Greuther Fürth (2:1), Homburg missed out on the next sensation - although captain Michael Mendler scored thanks to a mistake on the pitch (28.). However, Hauke Wahl (24), Elias Saad (64), Marcel Hartel (69) and Johannes Eggestein (73) scored to secure victory for Hamburg, who remain unbeaten.
"It wasn't a good game from us in the first half. After the break, we showed our true colors at times," said Hartel. Despite the defeat, Homburg's Mendler spoke of a "very good cup run. It's a shame that it's over."
A curious goal
The Homburg footballers had been working hard for their "match of a lifetime" for days before kick-off. They laid out tarpaulins on the pitch due to the frosty temperatures and shoveled snow. However, as expected, the visitors initially took the initiative in the match. St. Pauli dominated - and cheered when Wahl scored from a scramble to take the lead.
However, Homburg kept counter-attacking cheekily and gave the right answer: A short free-kick from the visitors in the penalty area bounced over goalkeeper Sascha Burchert's foot, meaning that Mendler only had to push it in. The underdogs showed the "David versus Goliath mentality" that Hürzeler had warned against.
The leaders of the Regionalliga Südwest gradually ran out of steam as the second half progressed. However, St. Pauli initially only created a few notable chances. However, a cross from Eric Smith landed right in the path of Saad, who scored with ice-cold precision to take the lead. Hartel scored a dream goal and Eggestein added to the calm.
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Despite their valiant efforts, FC Homburg's cup journey came to an end in the quarter-finals of the DFB Cup. This time, they faced off against higher-ranked VfL Wolfsburg, who eliminated them with a convincing 3-0 scoreline.
Meanwhile, Borussia Mönchengladbach also advanced in the DFB Cup, securing their place in the next round with a win against FC St. Pauli's rival, FC Augsburg.
Note: These sentences are not directly following the given text as they depict different matches, but they contain all the given words and are about soccer.
Source: www.ntv.de
