Sportfreunde Lotte have been this year’s DFB Cup giant killers, already knocking out two top-flight teams on their way to the round of 16. They beat Werder Bremen 2-1 in the first round, before overcoming Champions League competitors Bayer Leverkusen. However, on Wednesday (08/02, 20:45 CET), they won’t face a Bundesliga side, rather second-division outfit TSV 1860 Munich. “If you can win against Leverkusen, you can also beat 1860,” said Ismail Atalan, Lotte’s coach, believing his third-division side can make it to the quarterfinals.
These two sides have never faced each other, but for Lotte, it is just their third time in the competition, while they’ve never been in the same league as the Bavarian club in their 71 year history. 1860 have not made it to the last eight for nine years, while qualification to the quarters for Lotte would be a milestone in the club’s history.
1860 with many new players
The “Lions” have been busy in the winter period, appointing a coach with international experience, Vitor Pereira, and signing Christian Gytkjaer, Amilton, Lumor, Franck Boya and Abdoulaye Ba. The new coach trusts his new men, deploying four of them from the start in their 2-1 defeat in Bielefeld on Friday. Stefan Aigner, who has been their captain until now, was not included in their squad in Bielefeld.
Lotte themselves strengthened with the signing of attacker Saliou Sane from fellow league side Holstein Kiel and centre-back Tobias Haitz from Regionalliga Alemannia Achen. Sportfreunde started the year with a 2-1 home defeat to Werder Bremen’s U23s, but won 3-0 convincingly last Saturday against SV Wehen Wiesbaden. “Lotte took the fight out of us over almost the whole game, they dominated,” admitted Wehen coach Torsten Fröhling. 1860 would do well to take this warning seriously.
Sportfreunde Lotte have been this year’s DFB Cup giant killers, already knocking out two top-flight teams on their way to the round of 16. They beat Werder Bremen 2-1 in the first round, before overcoming Champions League competitors Bayer Leverkusen. However, on Wednesday (08/02, 20:45 CET), they won’t face a Bundesliga side, rather second-division outfit TSV 1860 Munich. “If you can win against Leverkusen, you can also beat 1860,” said Ismail Atalan, Lotte’s coach, believing his third-division side can make it to the quarterfinals.
These two sides have never faced each other, but for Lotte, it is just their third time in the competition, while they’ve never been in the same league as the Bavarian club in their 71 year history. 1860 have not made it to the last eight for nine years, while qualification to the quarters for Lotte would be a milestone in the club’s history.
1860 with many new players
The “Lions” have been busy in the winter period, appointing a coach with international experience, Vitor Pereira, and signing Christian Gytkjaer, Amilton, Lumor, Franck Boya and Abdoulaye Ba. The new coach trusts his new men, deploying four of them from the start in their 2-1 defeat in Bielefeld on Friday. Stefan Aigner, who has been their captain until now, was not included in their squad in Bielefeld.
Lotte themselves strengthened with the signing of attacker Saliou Sane from fellow league side Holstein Kiel and centre-back Tobias Haitz from Regionalliga Alemannia Achen. Sportfreunde started the year with a 2-1 home defeat to Werder Bremen’s U23s, but won 3-0 convincingly last Saturday against SV Wehen Wiesbaden. “Lotte took the fight out of us over almost the whole game, they dominated,” admitted Wehen coach Torsten Fröhling. 1860 would do well to take this warning seriously.
