Just in time for Christmas, fans in the North of Germay are in for an extra treat as Werder Bremen face Hanover 96 in the last sixteen of the DFB-Cup. The Saturday evening draw was conducted by German Ladies international goalkeeper Silke Rottenburg and national assistant coach Joachim Löw.
The draw means a repeat of last weeks Bundesliga stalemate: " A NOrthern derby is interesting anyway. The fact that it's in the DFB-Cup and in a knock-out situation makes all the more attractive. It's just a pity that the tie won't be at the Weser Stadium, that would have been a nice round-off to the year for our fans", said captain Frank Baumann just before the clocks went back in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Head coach Thomas Schaaf commented: "We got to see last week that they are a tough nut to crack , but the cup is a different issue, we are very positive about the challenge."
Other highlights of the next round of the cup aside from Werders derby are without doubt the Rheinland-Pfalz clash between Kaiserslautern and Mainz as well as the tie of the round when Bayern Munich meet Hamburg SV.
The best sixteen will be reduced to the last eight on the 20th and 21st of December, Werders match is most likely to be set for Wednesday 21st as the Green-Whites are due to host Hamburg the previous Sunday at the Weser Stadium.
The draw for the last sixteen turned out the folloowing pairings:
Eintracht Frankfurt - 1. FC Nuremburg
Bayern Munich - Hamburg SV
Armenia Bielefeld - SpVgg Unterhaching
SC Freiburg - TSV 1860 Munich
Hanover 96 - Werder Bremen
FC St. Pauli - Hertha BSC
Hansa Rostock - Offenbacher Kickers
1. FC Kaiserslautern - 1. FSV Mainz 05
The draw means the wishes of many Werder fans were not filled. A werder.de survey revealed that 49,2% of Werder fans asked would have prefared to play the Hamurg side FC St. Pauli. HSV came in second place with 16.1%, closely followed by a certain other club with 15,0% and Bayern Munich with 14,7%. Hertha BSC Berlin also appeared on the wish list with 4,9% of the poll.
Johnnie Muldoon