Blowout shutouts
October 29, 2009
A day after third-league team Osnabreuck continued their underdog run in the German Soccer Cup with an upset over the Bundesliga's Borussia Dortmund, Wednesday's matches contained no such surprises. All four games were won by Bundesliga sides, who hardly gave their opponents a chance.
But despite the sweep on Wednesday by Germany's top-flight teams, not all of the Bundesliga squads went home happy. Eintracht Frankfurt was eliminated from the German Cup after losing 4-0 at home to Bayern Munich.
Playing one of their best games in weeks, Bayern jumped out to an early 2-0 lead thanks to two goals from striker Miroslav Klose in the 14th and 19th minutes. Ten minutes later, it was Klose again, this time setting up midfielder Thomas Mueller, who shot and scored from ten meters, giving Bayern a 3-0 lead before a half-hour had passed. Striker Luca Toni added Bayern's fourth goal in the 52nd minute.
It was a welcome return to action for Klose, who had so far been goalless for Bayern this year.
Cruise control for top teams
Just ahead of Bayern in the Bundesliga table are Schalke 04 in fourth place and Werder Bremen in third. Both teams won their respective games on Wednesday night in convincing fashion.
Defender Petri Pasanen picked up a Marko Marin rebound off the post to score the first goal after 28 minutes for Bremen against second division team FC Kaiserslautern. Midfielder Tim Borowski put Bremen up 2-0 six minutes before the half and Torsten Oehrl, coming off the bench, added the third and final goal in the 76th minute. Kaiserslautern couldn't find the goal all game and was blanked with a final score 3-0. The win extends Bremen's undefeated streak to 16 games.
Schalke came up with a win on the road against 1860 Munich from the second division, also by a final score of 3-0. Midfielder Rafinha put the guests up 1-0 just before half, and defender Benedikt Hoewedes added 2 more in the 48th and 81st minute.
Rounding out Wednesday's games, Hoffenheim beat second division side Koblenz at home thanks to four second half goals, resulting in a final score of 4-0.
The draw for the pairings in the German Cup quarterfinals is set to take place on Sunday, with the next round of matches to be played in February 2010.
mz/afp/DPA
Editor: Nigel Tandy