The Daily Bee (September 15. 2020): DFB-Pokal First Round Action

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DFB-Pokal Round One Recap

Since Bayern just had to go and win the Champions League, they won’t be competing in their first round Pokal match until October 15. Still, th is was the first week of true competitive matches for a lot of Bundesliga sides and even some 2. Bundesliga sides. Let’s do a quick recap, shall we?

Dortmund pummeled MSV Duisburg 5-0 in their match. In the preview I predicted a 2-0 win for Dortmund based on previous years’ first round matches, so I was pleased to have been wrong on the score. It was a complete game for BVB on both sides of the ball, and the perfect tune-up for Saturday’s Bundesliga contest.

Elsewhere, there were a number of equally lopsided results. Gladbach, Augsburg and Leverkusen scored the biggest wins of the round with Gladbach winning 8-0 and both Leverkusen and Augsburg winning 7-0 against their opponents. Other blowout wins were 6-0 for Koln, a 5-0 W for Paderborn, and Wolfsburg’s 4-1 victory.

There were also quite a bit of upsets in the first round, most notably Hertha Berlin losing 5-4 to Eintract Braunshweig. For a club on the rise like Hertha to lose while allowing 5 goals, that’s pretty bad. Other notable upsets were Heidenheim losing 1-0, Bundesliga newbies Arminia losing 1-0, and St. Pauli losing 4-2. Hoffenheim just barely avoided catastrophe when they won on penalties against Chemnitzer.

The only other Bundesliga side to not play a first round match was the Smurfs of Schalke. It’s really difficult to explain, but the gist of it is that a court ruled Schalke should be playing another team instead of the one they were drawn with, FC Schweinfurt. 2020 just keeps getting weirder.

If Schalke’s match is ever decided and played, the draw for the second round should be held on October 18 after Bayern dismantles whatever team is in their way.

Leistner In The Stands

Speaking of the Pokal, Hamburg got absolutely smacked 4-1 by Dynamo Dresden. You don’t even have to look at the stats or the match highlights to know that Dresden were the better team on the day and Hamburg continue to look lost since dropping down to the 2. Bundesliga.

But that’s not the point of this section. After the match, Hamburg defender Toni Leistner abruptly left his post-match interview to climb into the stands and confront a Dresden fan. He had to be restrained from doing anything he would later regret and eventually he left the Dresden fans.

My German in non-existent, but according to Leistner’s Instagram the insults were “below the belt” and involved his wife and daughter. I’m not going to absolve Leistner, who is from Dresden, of entering the stands to go after a fan because that usually never goes well for the fan or the player; the Malice at the Palace is the first thing that comes to my mind when a player enters the stands to “confront” a heckler. However, I would never want to hear some schmuck insulting my wife or family, and I were in a similar situation I don’t know if I could control myself, so I can understand it to an extent.

Still, a stiff penalty for Leistner should be expected, especially so since COVID is still a thing in Germany and athletes going into the stands with fans is generally frowned upon.

The Daily Buzz

What were your thoughts on the first round of the DFB-Pokal?