Energie Cottbus – Hoffenheim
Fueled by Nils Petersen’s 13 goals in 18 appearances, Cottbus are closing in on their promotion back to the 1. Bundesliga. The East German club beat Wolfsburg in the last round, and also edged first division club Freiburg in the Round of 32. Cottbus have vowed to take a defensive approach, and will play with hopes of entering a penalty shoot-out.
Hoffenheim battled back from a goal behind to earn a late point against St Pauli on Sunday, but the Sinsheim club is still unlikely to qualify for the Europa League, at least from their Bundesliga record. The Pokal offers a good opportunity to earn a first-ever European berth, and the village side will be favourites as they head to Cottbus. Chinedu Obasi and Manuel Gulde will be missing, but Hoffenheim should otherwise be at full strength.
Duisburg – Kaiserslautern
Like Cottbus, Duisburg are in good position to be promoted to the 1. Bundesliga. The Zebras beat Koeln last round, and should favour their odds while at home against a Kaiserslautern side that was only recently promoted, and could drop back to the second division at season’s end. MSV will hope to prove their readiness for 1. Bundesliga football with a convincing performance against ‘Lautern. Srdjan Baljak will have to miss out on the action due to a calf injury.
Minus the services of top scorer Srdjan Lakic, Kaiserslautern were battered on Saturday in a 5-1 loss to Bayern. The promoted side will face familiar opposition in Duisburg, and will have their work cut out as they head into a rather hostile environment. The Westphalian side will have a huge boost in the form of Lakic, who returns following his suspension. Jan Simunek, Stiven Rivic and Iliyan Mitsanski, however, are expected to be unavailable due to injuries.
Alemannia Aachen – Bayern Munich
Aachen beat Karlsruhe in their last match, but nonetheless remain in the anonymity of mid-table in the 2. Bundesliga. In late 2006, they beat Bayern, though, and may be able to pull off another upset on Wednesday. The Rhine side has pledged to hold onto a clean sheet for as long as possible in an attempt to wear down their illustrious visitors.
Thanks to a hat trick from Mario Gomez and the brilliant work of Arjen Robben, Bayern signaled their return to form with their 5-1 win against Kaiserslautern on Saturday. Louis van Gaal may choose to shuffle his line-up to offer his stars a break, but will be keen to spur his team on for a rare away win. Franck Ribery, Toni Kroos and Ivica Olic have definitely been ruled out, while Robben and Daniel van Buyten are questionable due to illness.
