Modeste Renaissance continues as Köln eliminate Stuttgart
In yet another second round DFB Pokal fixture that featured two teams from the top divisions, 1. FC Köln eliminated hosts VfB Stuttgart from the 2021/22 competition with a 2-0 victory over the Swabians at the Mercedes Benz Arena.
French striker Anthony Modeste, courtesy of his second consecutive brace on the trot, now has scored eight goals in 11 appearances across all competitions.
Other advancers from a wild finish to the second round of the DFB Pokal include Gladbach (over Bayern) and Hannover 96 (over Fortuna Düsseldorf).
Down in Bavaria, a thriller for the ages saw SSV Jahn Regenburg come back from 0-2 behind to lead 3-2 against visiting Rostock.
They then ultimately get eliminated as they guests equalized at 120+1 and proceeded to take the shootout.
French striker Anthony Modeste, courtesy of his second consecutive brace on the trot, now has scored eight goals in 11 appearances across all competitions.
Other advancers from a wild finish to the second round of the DFB Pokal include Gladbach (over Bayern) and Hannover 96 (over Fortuna Düsseldorf).
Down in Bavaria, a thriller for the ages saw SSV Jahn Regenburg come back from 0-2 behind to lead 3-2 against visiting Rostock.
They then ultimately get eliminated as they guests equalized at 120+1 and proceeded to take the shootout.
| Anthony Modeste. | Photo: Sandro Halank, Wikimedia Commons, CC-BY-SA 4.0 |
Stuttgart trainer Pellegrino Matarazzo made three changes to the XI that drew Union Berlin over the weekend. Mateo Klimowicz came on to work as lead striker in place of Hamadi Al Ghaddioui. Atakan Karazor and Nikolas Nartey also made way for Daniel Didavi and Orel Mangala.
Köln gaffer Steffen Baumgart, by contrast, actually made eight changes to the XI that drew Leverkusen in the weekend's thriller. Only outfielders Jonas Hector, Dejan Ljubicic, and Salih Özcan remained in a squad that featured Tomas Ostrak, Timo Hübers, and back-up keeper Marvin Schwäbe.
The first half ended in stalemate. Stuttgart owned most of the possession game, but Baumgart's men were not to be bossed around in midfield. At the half hour mark, only the Swabian hosts had managed a couple of half chances. Two minutes before the break, VfB defender Konstantinos Mavropanos managed the fixture's first shot on goal. The Greek defender tried to emulate his laser against Gladbach in the league's eighth round. Schwäbe proved equal to it.
Baumgart sent Mark Uth on for Ostrak at the half. Klimowicz actually tried his own distance blast three minutes after the restart. Schwäbe had a little trouble handling the ball that stung his palms this time, but Stuttgart couldn't capitalize. Both sides began to slowly exhibit more movement and determination. After the hour mark, however, it became clear that the result would come down to which personnel changes the respective trainers would employ.
Matarazzo introduced Al Ghaddioui, Wahid Faghir, and Naouirou Ahamada. Baumgart, having the much deeper bench, brought on Ondrej Duda and Anthony Modeste. Two of the Effzeh subs combined for the first goal in the 72nd. Modeste finished off a rebound an Uth shot not sixty seconds after coming onto the pitch. Five minutes, Modeste would have a brace following a fantastic team goal that featured work from Uth, Duda, and starter Sebastian Andersson.
A completely deflated Stuttgart could manage nothing after falling behind 0-2 in the final ten minutes. Modeste missed out on a chance to record a hat trick and later substitute Tim Lemperle couldn't put a bow on proceedings at 90+3 after another hard Modeste shot gifted him the 3-0 off a rebound.
Elsewhere in the final set of DFB Pokal second round kickoffs, FC Bayern München were handed a historic 5-0 humiliation at Borussia Park. Incredibly enough, not even a year removed from their historic six-trophy-haul, Germany's record champions have now been eliminated in the second round of the domestic cup in two consecutive cycles.
In a duel between two proud 2. Bundesliga clubs, Fortuna Düsseldorf and Hannover 96 played a very tight contest until the H96 scored two more in injury time to complete a 3-0 victory over the visiting F95.
In another heated 2. Bundesliga brawl, SSV Jahn Regensburg took visiting Hansa Rostock into extra time with a sensational equalizer in the first minute of second-half injury time.
Initially down 0-2 to their Hanseatic guests, the Bavarians then thought they had completed their storybook comeback with a goal to put themselves up 3-2 in the 101st. Rostock's Pascal Breier nevertheless pulled the guests back level 3-3 at 120+1.
Rostock then won the shootout 4-2 with Breier converting the decisive kick.