Bayern dangerous after crashing at home
1. FC Nürnberg will bear the full brunt as FC Bayern try to shake off their humiliating 2:5 home defeat to Bundesliga rivals Werder Bremen.
Both teams may be from Bavaria, but there'll be no easy ride for second division Nürnberg in Munich as they face a Bayern side determined to prove that Saturday's Bundesliga shock result was a one-off for the German champions
Ribery and Klose both back
Bayern coach Jürgen Klinsmann is emphatic:" We must hold up our heads, learn and respond. You can get knocked down, what matters is how you get back up again. We will stand up against and perhaps be stronger than before, we will give a response."
Another defeat at home is unthinkable: "If we perform properly, we will win," says German international Philipp Lahm.
French midfield star Franck Ribery, injured during EURO 2008, is fit for a return to football. And Bayern are also hoping for great things from striker Miroslav Klose. It remains to be seen whether they will play from the start against Nürnberg.
"Wounded animals"
The situation for 1. FCN is far worse. Nine times German champions, Nürnberg are currently 14th in the 2. Bundesliga. Coach Michael Oenning is not looking forward to the clash. Both teams are like wounded animals, he says
1. FCN will need to go flat out to make any impression on their Munich hosts. But he believes the chances are 50:50. "We'll have to ensure we make as few mistakes as possible, especially at crucial moments, as we recently did in the league." Oenning will be without Aleksandar Mitreski, who has back problems.
VfB Stuttgart - Arminia Bielefeld
Fresh from a 3:1 win over local rivals Karlsruhe and standing third in the Bundesliga tables, Stuttgart coach Armin Veh says he will make few changes at home to Bielefeld with Pavel Pardo and Yildiray Bastürk still unavailable.
Roberto Hilbert, who played well as a substitute on Sunday, might come in for Jan Simak in the starting line-up with Martin Lanig taking over as central attacker. There's still a question mark over Matthieu Delpierre, who missed the last game with an injured knee.
Doubts over Wichniarek and Kauf
Bielefeld coach Michael Frontzeck also had a successful week-end before the match against his former club. The 2:0 win over 1. FC Köln "did the team good," he says.
Frontzeck, too, has injury worries regarding keeper Artur Wichniarek and captain Rüdiger Kauf. He'll decide his line-up shortly before the kick-off with Thorben Marx back from injury. But defender Michael Lamey is barred after being sent off in the first round.
SC Freiburg - 1899 Hoffenheim
Fresh from a 5:0 home win in the 2. Bundesliga, SC Freiburg will face a different challenge from visitors 1899 Hoffenheim. Freiburg coach rates Robin Dutt Hoffenheim as one of the best attacking sides in Germany and might ignore the rule of never changing a winning side. .
If he does pick a different eleven, it's because he wants fresh legs to tackle Hoffenheim. But he still can't call on injured defenders Pavel Krmas and Oliver Barthwill. And Croatian international Ivica Banovic, back in training, is also not yet strong enough for a competitive game, says Dutt, whose club currently lead Germany's second division.
A "real challenge"
Buoyed up by their strong performance against Dortmund, Hoffenheim coach Ralf Rangnick wants a successful cup run. But Freiburg, he says, "will be a real challenge for us."
"We're going to have to be very attentive, they're on a roll like us," says defender Andreas Ibertsberger, who used to play at Freiburg. "It's always a bit special playing against former team mates," he says. "I spent three years there and I'm really looking forward to playing in the same stadium again."
Coach Rangnick has plenty of respect for Freiburg: "Under Robin Dutt, they play very attacking football and have specialists in several positions. That's made them more stable, but also more predictable," he says.
FC Carl Zeiss Jena - FSV Frankfurt 1899
Third division Jena have been pre-occupied with their search for a new coach.The club's homepage is forthright about Frankfurt's forthcoming visit: "The visitors are about as welcome as your mother-in-law would be just while moving house."
They've got their man to replace Hening Bürger, but new coach René van Eck will be a mere spectator during the cup game against FSV Frankfurt 1899." .
Will "mother-in-law" make history?
Frankfurt see the game as their chance to reach the Cup third round for the first time in their history, says team boss Tomas Oral. He's expecting a raw encounter, which would seem to have little do with football: "We are going to fight, scratch, bite and spit," he says. Just like a mother-in-law?
Oral will make changes to his last line-up with injuries to defenders Mark Husterer, Radek Spilacek and Christian Eggert as well as substitute keeper Marjan Petkovic.
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