Bundesbag Extra: Hamburg and Leverkusen crash out of Cup

Cup Fever gripped Germany this week as the Second Round of the DFB Pokal took place on Tuesday and Wednesday. The first round saw a few Bundesliga scalps claimed and a managerial casualty to boot. While it is unlikely that any coaches will be tugging nervously at their collars today, there are a few Bundesliga clubs who have a little more time on their hands thanks to dramatic defeats at the hands of lower division teams.

The biggest shock of the round was at the Osnatel-Arena, home to Vfl Osnabruck of the third division. There, the home team beat Bundesliga leaders Hamburg in a dramatic penalty shoot-out. The home side opened the scoring with a goal from Niels Hansen. His team-mate Benjamin Siegart doubled their lead and an upset was very much on the cards, however, Bruno Labbadia's men struck back with Mladen Petric and Piotr Trachowski drawing the northern giants level.

The game went into extra time and it looked as though the dream was over for the Lilywhites when Guy Demel put Hamburg 3-2 up. However, Henning Grieneisen equalised and forced the tie to penalties.

The shoot-out was a foregone conclusion. After all, Osnabruck had far more Germans in their team. They won 4-2. Mladen Petric missed the deciding spot kick, covered his face with shame and pandemonium ensued as the Osnabruck fans celebrated a famous Cup victory.

But Hamburg won't be the only team going to the Pub Quiz during Cup nights. Bayer Leverkusen, placed second in the Bundesliga, are also out. Their conquerors were none other than Kaiserslautern, the Bundesliga team of the 90's, now wallowing in the 2 Bundesliga. Sidney Sam and Erik Jenrisek were the goal heroes at the Fritz Walter Stadion.

The other two upsets are perhaps less surprising. 'Gladbach suffered an embarrassing 1-0 defeat at Borussia Park thanks to a last minute winner from Kristoffer Andersen. Hertha's atrocious form continued in Munich as they went 2-0 down to 1860 Munich. The Berliners pulled themselves together and bounced back with two goals. However, they too fell foul of the dreaded penalties and 1860 advanced to the Third Round.

There was an upset of sorts as Koln beat Bundesliga champions Wolsfburg 3-2. Judging by the reaction of both teams, the Cup obviously means a great deal to these players and their managers. Wolsfburg coach Armin Vey stormed off down the tunnel after the final whistle. Clearly a very unhappy man.

Kudos also to Lubeck who so very nearly beat Stuttgart only to lose out in extra time, 3-1.

It was an emotional night of Cup football. My thanks to the Bundesbag's good friend The Third Half who was providing Twitter commentary of the events in Germany. The Third Round takes place at the end of October. Click here to see all the results.