Bavarians dominate German Cup opening round

Munich - Mario Gomez and Bastian Schweinsteiger converted penalties shots and Thomas Müller scored to ice the match as FC Bayern München beat their hosts Eintracht Braunschweig 3-0 in the first round of the German Cup. 

After big names like Leverkusen, Wolfsburg, and Bremen lost to teams from the lower divisions, head coach Jupp Heynckes seemed confident meeting the press a day before his club officially started their season in the German Cup domestic competition.  Despite missing his stars Arjen Robben and Franck Ribéry, he felt his team had prepared well and displayed the readiness for a season of high expectations.

"My team was very played confidently tonight," said Heynckes.  "We played at a top level and executed the game plan."  Bayern now prepare for the start of the Bundesliga season, which kicksoff Sunday at Allianz Arena against Borussia Monchengladbach.

Bayern were not the only ones from Bavaria to win over the weekend.  Munich rivals TSV 1860 had to go into extra time but came out winners at Osnabrück 3-2.  Benjamin Lauth scored two goals including the match winner in the 107th minute.

Markus Feulner scored a natural hat-trick (3 goals in succession in the same half) to lead 1.FC Nürnberg to a 5-1 victory over Arminia Bielefeld.  Feulner joined the The Club over the summer from defending league champs Dortmund and he has immediately paid dividends.

Newly promoted FC Augsburg were uncomfortable in their role as a top club and fell behind early to Red-White Oberhausen.  But Paul Verhaegh scored to even the match and Jonas de Roeck won the match in the final seconds of extra time, 2-1.

FC Ingolstadt took an early lead on goals by Moritz Hartmann and Stefan Leitl and held on to beat FC Oberneuland 4-1.  Hartmann iced the victory with a second goal later in the 2nd half.

SpVgg Unterhaching surprised SC Freiburg in a back-and-forth affair that was settled late, when Mijo Tunjic converted his second penalty kick in the 87th minute, and Haching won 3-2.

There were three matches where the goal differential was 10, and SpVgg Gruether Fürth was one of the teams that enjoyed a fun night, crushing Eimsbütteler TV 10-0.  Sercan Sararer scored four goals, Sebastian Tyrala added 2 more as the northern Bavarian team scored early and then often late.

The next round of the German domestic cup will be held October 25-26th.  The draw to decide the matchups will be held this Saturday, August 6th.