Arminia's DFB Cup coup: An evening of Bielefeld euphoria

The winners knew what was coming from the start. The losers, on the other hand, seemed to have no plan or idea of ​​what was coming, at least in the first half. And so the quarter-final duel between third division fourth-placed Arminia Bielefeld and Bundesliga club Werder Bremen was ultimately decided in the first 45 minutes.

The East Westphalians, who were clearly ahead of the North Germans in terms of willingness to run, intensity and determination, gained a 2-0 lead: first, the excellent playmaker Marius Wörl scored with a magnificent diagonal shot from the left corner of the penalty area into the right corner of the goal (35th minute), followed shortly afterwards by an own goal by Bremen's Julian Malatini with a lob (41st minute). Everything was going well for the underdog.

The Bremen team, who tried hard after the break, were unable to compensate for their sleepy first half. The 1:2 goal from substitute Oliver Burke's powerful shot (56th minute) was not enough.

With a bit of luck when former Arminia player Amos Pieper headed the ball onto the crossbar (90th+2) and a magnificent save in a one-on-one duel with Bremen striker Justin Njinmah (48th), the Arminia team, who fought for every meter, defeated the third first division team in a row afterUnion Berlin (2-0) and SC Freiburg (3-1). They are now eagerly awaiting their opponent in the semi-finals on April 1st/2nd.

The East Westphalians had already proven themselves to be cup specialists in 2005 and 2006, when they were still in the Bundesliga and were only defeated in the semi-finals by FC Bayern Munich (0:2) and Eintracht Frankfurt (0:1). The third division club's dream journey also ended in the round of the last four in 2015, with a 0:4 home defeat to VfL Wolfsburg.

Back then, the fans of the black-white-blues celebrated their team just as frenetically as the majority of the 26,601 spectators did this time after a passionately fought and cleverly played victory over Bremen, who are currently reeling from a slump in form.

"You have to adapt here," said the disappointed Bremen playmaker Leonardo Bittencourt, highlighting his team's biggest failure in Bielefeld . "They close down every space. It's not like in the Bundesliga, where you kick around a bit and wait. We should have fought them with our own means in the first half. We only did that in the second half." After the 0:5 defeat in Freiburg last Friday in the Bundesliga, the six-time DFB Cup winners from Bremen are looking for themselves.

Bielefeld, on the other hand, one of the candidates for promotion in the third division, remained true to its work ethic and was ultimately better than its opponent from the Bundesliga in the third cup duel of the season. "The first half was perfect for us," said coach Mitch Kniat after his team's latest coup, "we kept trying to get second balls and pulled Werder 's chain apart. That was the plan."

The coach, who increased the midfield line-up from three to five professionals in all four cup games, including the first round duel with the second division team Hannover 96 (2:0), and repeatedly found space with consistent counter-pressing, had a plan ready in every cup game that opened the door to success. Since Kniat, a coach with a good feel for what is necessary in each situation, has a team with strong character and a long-suffering spirit, the Arminen collective triumphed again this time over a Bremen ensemble that seemed knocked out after a promising first half of the season.

In addition, Bielefeld, who suffered in the second half, could once again rely on Marius Wörl, who opened the door to the semi-finals in this cup round with two goals and three assists. Wörl from Upper Bavaria, on loan from Hannover 96 for the second year, is the difference maker for Arminia. After the coup against Werder, he raved about the "game of my life". Wörl is only twenty years old.

At the moment of their greatest triumph, he and his Bielefeld colleagues were also thinking of their colleague Roberts Uldrikis, who on Tuesday, having barely been substituted on (55th minute), made the bad pass a minute later that led to the 1:2 - and presumably suffered a cruciate ligament tear in the 63rd minute. The Latvian centre-forward, who only joined in January, could be missing from the Arminia team for months. The fact that he was unable to take part in the night-time victory celebration in Bielefeld's Café Europa was a bitter Bielefeld footnote on an evening of euphoria.