Two coaches had debuts to forget in Germany on Sunday, with Oliver Glasner watching Eintracht Frankfurt lose to a third-tier team and Mark van Bommel winning with VfL Wolfsburg, despite making one more substitution than allowed.
Frankfurt were knocked out in the first round of the DFB-Pokal by SV Waldhof Mannheim 07. Wolfsburg, Glasner’s former team, needed extra-time to beat fourth-division side SC Preussen Munster 3-1, but Van Bommel made a total of six substitutions in the game — three in regulation and another three in extra-time.
That is one more than the five permitted under German soccer federation rules and the club faces an anxious wait to see if there will be any repercussions.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Two goals early in the second half gave Waldhof a 2-0 win over Frankfurt, who had defender Martin Hinteregger sent off for a second yellow card with just under half an hour to play.
“We’re all very self-critical after this game. Everyone’s disappointed and reflecting. We made a lot of mistakes and I’ll start with myself, but I’ve no worries before the start of the league,” Glasner said.
Frankfurt play at Borussia Dortmund in their Bundesliga opener on Saturday.
Both Cologne and FSV Mainz 05 required penalty shoot-outs to get past fourth-tier opposition.
Cologne won their shoot-out 4-2 at Carl Zeiss Jena, while Mainz prevailed 8-7 over SV Elversberg.
Davie Selke’s stoppage-time goal gave Hertha BSC a 1-0 win at third-division SV Meppen, while city rivals Union Berlin also progressed thanks to Max Kruse’s first-half strike in a 1-0 victory over third-division Turkgucu Munich.
SC Freiburg beat third-division Wurzburger Kickers 1-0, while second-tier Hamburg SV won 2-1 at Eintracht Braunschweig, another third-division team.
Ridge Munsy scored in the last minute of extra-time for Hansa Rostock to beat second-division rivals Heidenheim 3-2.
Schalke 04, who were relegated from the Bundesliga last season, survived a scare before beating fifth-tier Villingen 4-1.
Also, Fortuna Duesseldorf beat VfB Oldenburg 5-0 and SSV Jahn Regensburg won 3-0 against Rot-Weiss Koblenz.
Defending champions Borussia Dortmund progressed on Saturday thanks to Erling Haaland’s hat-trick in a 3-0 win at SV Wehen Wiesbaden.
GUNNING FOR A WIN: The victory sending Arsenal to the final for the first time in six years was cathartic for a team who had lost their previous four semi-finals Arsenal on Tuesday reached the League Cup final for the first time in eight years as Kai Havertz sealed a 1-0 win against Chelsea in the semi-final second leg. Mikel Arteta’s side had put themselves in pole position in the first leg and Havertz came off the bench to finish the 4-2 aggregate victory in the closing moments at the Emirates Stadium. It was a cathartic triumph for the Gunners, who had lost their previous four semi-finals in last year’s UEFA Champions League and League Cup, the 2022 League Cup and the 2021 UEFA Europa League. In their first final for six years,
Ademola Lookman on Thursday scored on his Atletico Madrid debut in a 5-0 rout of Real Betis Balompie that sent Diego Simeone’s team to the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey. David Hancko, Giuliano Simeone, Antoine Griezmann and Thiago Almada also scored for Atletico as they advanced to the last four for the third straight season. Atletico are trying to reach their first Copa final since winning the competition in 2012-2013. Hancko opened the scoring for the visitors in the 12th minute and Giuliano Simeone added to the lead in the 30th, before Lookman got his first goal for Atletico on a fast
SUPERSTAR DELIVERS: Victor Wembanyama scored 29 points and pulled down 11 rebounds to propel the Spurs to a 135-123 victory over the Dallas Mavericks The Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday shook off the early exit of injured star Luka Doncic, rallying without him in the second half for a 119-115 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers. Austin Reaves, again coming off the bench in his second game back from a 19-game injury absence, scored 13 of his 35 points in the fourth quarter, drilling a pair of back-to-back three-pointers to give the Lakers their first lead of the game early in the final frame. “Losing Luka, you know nothing’s going to be easy after that because he does so much for us, but we bonded together,” said
DEADLINE DAY: Rennes’ Jacquet had been linked with a transfer to Chelsea earlier this month, but was reportedly put off the move due to the Blues’ bloated squad Liverpool on Monday won the race to sign Stade Rennais defender Jeremy Jacquet on the quiet final day of the English Premier League transfer window, while Crystal Palace swooped for Wolverhampton Wanderers striker Jorgen Strand Larsen despite the collapse of Jean-Philippe Mateta’s move to AC Milan. The Reds agreed a reported fee of up to £60 million (US$82 million) for the highly rated Jacquet. However, the 20-year-old will not join the Premier League champions until the summer despite Liverpool’s need for defensive reinforcements. Jacquet had been linked with a transfer to Chelsea earlier this month, but was reportedly put off