Pokal Preview: FC Bayern Munich vs Rot-Weiß Oberhausen

By: Luke | September 21st, 2009

FC Bayern will take on Rot-Weiss Oberhausen in a 2nd round DFB Pokal match set for Tuesday at 1 p.m. EST. As of right now, there does not appear to be a broadcast or satellite viewing option for this match in the US. The official FC Bayern website will offer live webradio coverage. I will be optimistically posting a liveblog for the match, because a) I’ll actually be at home with a working computer and b) Since Sky is broadcasting all Pokal matches in Germany, I feel confident enough that we’ll be able to get a feed.

You might be surprised to find out that 10 years ago, Bayern and RWO met in the Pokal semi-final! Goals from Jancker, Effenberg and Linke carried the day, and Bayern punched their ticket to Berlin with a 3-1 victory. But 1999 was the year of heart-wrenching Bayern defeats, and another one came on PKs to Bremen in the final.

If you look up and down the Oberhausen roster, you’re not going to see a lot of familiar names. The only one I recognized was Felix Luz, and I only knew him because I cast passing glances at the other higher division teams in Bayern (Luz played for Augsburg). While Bayern was busy breaking Nürnberg hearts, Oberhausen was busy making sure folks in the suburbs had something to celebrate, as they got shellacked by Fürth in the battle of teams with clovers in their logos, 4-0. Actually it wasn’t as bad as it looks, and Rot-Weiss did have a three-match win streak going before the loss. But, don’t think they should be optimistic or anything. Adding difficulty to an already monumental task, they will be without first-choice keeper Christoph Semmler. Captain Benjamin Reichert is also sidelined.

Bayern really lucked out getting a home match in the 2nd round, for the 2nd straight year. This match would really be an annoyance if we had to travel. Clearly, the boys are going to have their eyes on Hamburg..or Paulaner, so focus is really the key. The coaches and players are saying all the right things about not underestimating an inferior opponent, etc, but it really comes down to mentality in the moment. Will our starting 11 decide they don’t really want to mess around on Tuesday? Louis van Gaal will be tempted to rest some legs, but I think the best policy would be to trot out a familiar starting lineup, and let them take care of business in the first half. Let’s try to go into the break up a couple goals and then will be the time for Toni and Ottl and *gasp* Lell to see the pitch.

Prediction: FC Bayern 2:0 Rot-Weiss Oberhausen
LVG’s approach pays dividends, as the team comes out in serious mode, finds the net a couple times early on, and then puts us all to sleep for the next 60 minutes or so with uneventful football. Sort of a backwards version of the weekend match!