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Elias Saad overcomes Homburg keeper Tom Kretzschmar
Photo: Christian Kaspar-Bartke / Getty Images
Top of the 2nd Bundesliga, in the quarter-finals of the DFB Cup: Thanks to a 4-1 (1-1) away win at fourth-division FC Homburg, FC St. Pauli's flight of fancy continues.
As the last remaining fourth-division team, FC Homburg went into the cup round of 24 as the biggest outsider - and that's how the Saarlanders played: Homburg left the ball to second-division leaders St. Pauli and limited themselves to being good defensively. This at least succeeded in such a way that the guests did not succeed much out of the game. However, because Hauke Wahl was ready to shoot at the back post after a corner extended by Eric Smith with a header, St. Pauli took the lead after a stationary ball (<>th minute).
The fact that it didn't last long was Hamburg's own fault: After the ball bounced unluckily due to a mistake in the field, St. Pauli keeper Sascha Burchert was unable to control a back pass. Ex-Bundesliga player Markus Mendler grabbed the ball and equalised for Homburg (29'). At the weekend, St. Pauli had benefited from a curious slapstick interlude in the Hamburg city derby, but now it was the other way around.
At half-time, St. Pauli coach Fabian Hürzeler brought on Elias Saad, among others, and the attacking winger decided the game: only with the 2-1, in which Saad took advantage of a cross from Smith from the half-field to take the lead again (64th). Five minutes later, Saad cut inside from the left and fed Hartel, who hit the corner from the turn (69'). Johannes Eggestein took advantage of an individual mistake in the Homburg build-up to make the final score, his low shot from the edge of the penalty area could not be saved (73').
Cev