Germany’s 3. Bundesliga (third division), which was drawing attention with the defeat of Bayern Munich, advanced to the semifinals of the German Football Association (DFB) Pokal and increased the size of the miracle.
Zarbrücken, who played the 2023-2024 Pokal quarterfinals at Stadion Ludwig Park in Zarbrücken, Germany, beat Borussia Mönchengladbach 2-1 to advance to the semifinals on the 13th (Korea time).
It was a thrilling come-from-behind victory. When Mönchengladbach’s Robin Haq scored early in the eighth minute of the first half, Saarbrücken’s Mohamed Naifi tied the score three minutes later. And Kai Brücker’s come-from-behind goal in the second half gave Saarbrücken a dramatic victory.
Zarbrücken, a third-division club, has come up for the fourth consecutive upset, beating bigger teams in all four games so far. Only four third-division teams have participated in the Pokal. One of them, Zarbrücken, won 2-1 against second-division Carlsruir in the first round when Brücken scored the winning goal in the 45th minute of the second half.
It was Bayern, Germany’s biggest team, that met in the second round. Saarbrücken, who brought home Bayern in November last year, gave up the first goal to Thomas Muller in the 16th minute of the first half, but he followed with Patrick Zonthheimer’s equalizer in the first half, before Martzel Gauss’s come-from-behind goal in the second half to win the game as a lie. It was Kim Min-jae’s first loss as a starter.
In the round of 16, Zarbrücken met Eintracht Frankfurt, a top-ranked team, and won a much cleaner match, 2-0. He also secured Mönchengladbach in the quarterfinals.
In other words, Jarbrücken has met four higher league teams, including Bayern, and scored two goals each in each game, with three of them winning 2-1 after 45 minutes of the second half. Even if you intentionally wrote the scenario, it is hard to believe.
Zarbrücken’s opponent in the semifinals is already decided. It is Kaiserslautern, a second-division team. Although the team is superior to Zarbrücken in both history and current power, it seems like an easy opponent for Zarbrücken, who has already defeated three first-division teams in a row.
If they can make it to the semifinals, they will meet either Bayer 04 Leverkusen, the first-division leader, or Fortuna Düsseldorf, the second-division leader, who is currently undefeated.
From Leverkusen’s perspective, it is an extremely easy match since it means that Leverkusen can challenge to win the Pokal championship by only meeting the second and third teams. This is the first time in the tournament’s history that there is only one first-division team left in the semifinals. However, Zarbrücken, who came up with Bayern Munich, seems more strained than the vague first-division team. 룸알바
Even in the 3. Bundesliga, Zarbrücken was not one of the top four teams to qualify. Although it finished fifth last season, as Freiburg’s second-tier team was banned from overlapping with the first-tier team, Zarbrücken’s qualification came out dramatically. Such a team presented its fans with a fantastic year by defeating top-tier teams at home. It is a welcoming factor that the semifinals will also be held at home.