FIRST TEAM
09/22/2009

Hoffenheim through to DFB Cup third round

1899 Hoffenhim went through to the second round of the DFB Cup thanks to a 1-0 victory in Nürnberg. The visitors were the dominant team throughout the match and created plenty of chances, of which only one was converted by Per Nilsson in the 35th minute. After the goal, Hoffenheim continued to press their opponents and should have doubled their lead early in the second half. Nürnberg managed to call Hoffenheim keeper Timo Hildebrand into action in the final ten minutes, but 1899 held on for a deserved victory and will now be hoping for a home tie in round three.

Match report

With Josip Simunic injured, Hoffenheim coach Ralf Rangnick was forced to reshuffle his pack with Per Nilsson coming in for the Croatian centre-back, while Christian Eichner, Isaac Vorsah and Maicosuel replaced Andreas Ibertsberger, Sejad Salihovic and Vedad Ibisevic respectively in the starting line-up.

It took a while for Hoffenheim to get going at the easyCredit-Stadion but with 20 minutes on the clock, the visitors began to hit their stride. With ten minutes to go until half-time, Swedish defender Per Nilsson rose above two Nürnberg defenders to head in at the near post following a Carlos Eduardo corner from the right.

1899 continued to dominate proceedings and should have buried their hosts shortly after the restart, but Demba Ba's was foiled by Nürnberg goalkeeper Raphael Schäfer after Carlos Eduardo's deflected shot left the Senegalese striker one-on-one with the former Stuttgart shot-stopper.

Eduardo himself went close, waltzing through the Nürnberg defence only to be thwarted once again by Schäfer from close range. Indeed it was the home custodian who kept his side in with a shout until the closing stages of the match, making for a tense final period in which Nürnberg finally began to put Hoffenheim under pressure.

Still, in truth the hosts were harmless in attack and Hoffenheim went through to the third round as deserved winners - Per Nilsson's solitary goal proving the difference in what was in fact a very one-sided affair.

Quotes

Raphael Schäfer
I think we put in a decent showing but obviously the result is a blow. We knew Hoffenheim could play good football and it's very difficult to stop them. We can't attack sides like we did last year in the 2. Bundesliga, we need to make sure we're tight at the back.

Dennis Diekmeyer
The defeat is obviously frustrating as we would have liked to have gone further in the competition, but that's football.

Juri Judt
We gave our all, even if it didn't look that way from the stands. There isn't much more to say. We knew we were up against a strong side.

Per Nilsson
I can't think of a better match. We played superbly, but we should have won by a greater margin.

Christian Eichner
We should have decided the match in the first half. We had plenty of chances to put the game to bed in the first hour, but it's good to see that we can win by 1-0 too. We deserved the win.

Timo Hildebrand
We should have finished the game off earlier and then we wouldn't have had to go through the nervy patch at the end. I would have liked to have avoided that. Nilsson did a great job for us today.

Michael Oenning
They definitely deserved the victory. I can't fault my team, though, they did their best. We didn't manage to score, but I'm not too disappointed as we managed to keep them on their toes until the end. Hoffenheim were the better side, but they didn't manage to finish us off.

Ralf Rangnick
It was a thrilling game - a little too thrilling for my liking. Aside from the opening 20 minutes, we played really well, but we should have finished the game off earlier. We had to focus until the very end. The important thing is that we're through, though, and now we need to recover in time for the Hertha match on Sunday so that we can continue our good run. It was nice to see Nilsson pop up with a goal and the lads gave him a little celebration afterwards. We have players who can come in and do a good job for us in almost every position now.

Match facts and statistics »

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