Cup horror Bielefeld beats Bremen: Up front against the big teams

Berlin taz | When Marius Wörl stood under the west stand of the Bielefeld Alm afterwards, Arminia's offensive player was asked to talk about his goal and the approach against the Bundesliga club Werder Bremen. The 20-year-old did not sound at all like a player from a third division club. He presented an approach that sounded like the world was turned upside down. "We knew that we had to go at the front to force Bremen to make mistakes again and again," said Wörl after the deserved 2:1 (2:0) victory in the quarter-finals of the DFB Cup against the favorites. That was exactly what "worked well" with his opening goal.

The appeal of this competition is that the little ones annoy the big ones and enjoy national attention in these rare moments in their footballing existence. This also applies to Arminia, which is in fourth place in the third league. What is different, however, is that Bielefeld made it to the semi-finals on Tuesday evening with a style that was once again partly unconventional and was rewarded with a 3.35 million Euro DFB bonus and a lavish night of partying in Bielefeld's Café Europa club. The joy was, however, marred by the suspicion that striker Roberts Uldrikis had torn his cruciate ligament.

In the previous rounds, Arminia had already earned well-deserved victories against second division side Hannover 96 (2:0) and Bundesliga sides Union Berlin (2:0) and SC Freiburg (3:1) with their very own style of play in the cup. In these matches against the respective favorites, the Bielefeld team also cultivated a courageous outsider style. Situational, fearless pressing is just as much a part of Arminia's cup style against higher-class teams as combative elements and counterattacks. At the same time, Arminia repeatedly shows phases of possession and playing ability.

Coach Mitch Kniat stirs up this mixture, and it continues to unfold its seemingly miraculous effect in the swinging and steaming Alm cauldron. Like before the 1-0, when Bremen defender Julián Malatini lost the ball to the onrushing Wörl during the build-up. Wörl moved the ball into the middle and sent an artistic right-footed shot from the edge of the penalty area into the far corner, where the ball bounced off the inside post and into the goal (35'). And when Malatini deflected Stefano Russo's cross into his own goal six minutes later while trying to clear the ball, Bielefeld's next cup surprise finally took shape.

This began to falter after Bremen scored to make it 2-1 through substitute Oliver Burke (56th minute). In injury time, the crossbar also prevented the equalizer after a header by former Bielefeld player Amos Pieper. "A lot went our way," summed up Kniat. But that was not pure coincidence. "The Bundesliga teams simply play differently. Our team is good at that," explained sports director Michael Mutzel. Unlike most teams in the third division, Arminia does not have to dominate, but can use the spaces that the Bundesliga teams inevitably leave open. That at least feeds Bielefeld's small hope of reaching the cup final in Berlin for the first time.

"What we have achieved so far as a third division team is unbelievable," said Wörl, "when you are in the semi-finals as a third division team, it is obviously difficult. But you can dream." Kniat said: "We want to write our own history and are well on the way to writing an even better history."

For Bremen, however, the season has turned into a nightmare after four defeats in a row. With 30 points, Werder is in no man's land in the Bundesliga. In Bielefeld, they also had a somewhat irritating performance. Leonardo Bittencourt assured that there were no atmospheric disturbances. "Perhaps a little disruption is needed. It's probably too nice."