Kaiserslautern eats final dream
Hertha BSC flies out of the DFB Cup
January 31, 2024, 10:48 p.m
1. FC Kaiserslautern is in the semi-finals of the DFB Cup. There is a clear victory at Hertha BSC. The Berliners have to continue to wait for a final in their own stadium. Before kick-off, fans remembered the late President Kay Bernstein with an emotional choreography.
The big dream of a home triumph has shattered, the long longing for Berlin remains unfulfilled. In the sold-out Olympic Stadium, Hertha BSC lost the quarter-finals of the DFB Cup against 1. FC Kaiserslautern 1:3 (0:2). While the Berliners have to digest the bitter end in the second division duel, the FCK is hoping for its third cup victory. Only one win is missing before returning to the “German Wembley” on May 25th. “Maybe we dreamed too much and talked and read too much about the opportunity,” said Hertha coach Pal Dardai on Sky: “We were blocked in the first half. It was a game of hide-and-seek.”
Jan Elvedi (5th), Richmond Tachie (38th) and Filip Kaloc (69th) scored the guests’ deserved victory, while substitute Fabian Reese scored late for Hertha (90th + 1). Lautern, only one point away from the relegation zone in everyday league play after a week-long series of bankruptcies, is continuing its amazing journey of successes over Rot-Weiß Koblenz, 1. FC Köln and 1. FC Nürnberg. For Hertha, reaching the final for the amateurs in 1993 remains their greatest cup success.
Bernstein’s jacket is hanging in the cabin
Wednesday evening already had a final character for both traditional clubs. For the first time this season, 74,475 spectators came to a Hertha game, and 10,000 fans came from the Palatinate – most of them in special trains. Memories were brought back of times when both clubs met regularly in the Bundesliga and Lautern won the cup in Berlin in 1990 and 1996.
The present in the 2nd league is bleak. The anticipation for the cup duel was even greater. At stake was a financial injection of 3.5 million euros for a place in the semi-finals and the prospect of crowning the success story with an unexpected title in the spring. After all, the competition has thinned out, Bayern, BVB and Leipzig have already been eliminated.
Fortuna Düsseldorf is in the top four for this. The other semi-finalists will be determined next week between Bayer Leverkusen and VfB Stuttgart, as well as the third division team 1. FC Saarbrücken and Borussia Mönchengladbach. Hertha sensed the chance to fulfill the “big dream” of its late president Kay Bernstein. The former Ultra’s jacket hung in the cabin as a symbol of his own ambitions.
“Without Lautern there would be nothing going on here!”
But after the atmospheric preliminary run and a minute’s silence for Franz Beckenbauer, the guests appeared much more determined. Elvedi overcame Marius Gersbeck, who was unexpectedly called up in goal by Hertha coach Pal Dardai, early on. Tachie increased shortly before half-time and celebrated his goal with a flick-flack. The fans from the Palatinate sang: “Without Lautern there would be nothing going on here!”
After the change, Dardai brought in hopeful Reese, who had recently been missing due to a corona illness. However, the FCK had the first chance: Captain Marlon Ritter (47th) narrowly missed, but in return Haris Tabakovic (48th) failed from six meters to keeper Julian Krahl. Hertha now pressed, the guests were waiting for a counterattack and took advantage of a catastrophic bad pass from substitute Andreas Bouchalakis to make the decision. Reese’s goal came too late.