Following their regular business in the Bundesliga, this week sees the return of the cup. On Wednesday the men’s team of 1. FC Union Berlin will travel to play DSC Arminia Bielefeld in the second round of the DFB Pokal. Kick off at the SchücoArena is at 20:45.
The lie of the land
Arminia are full of confidence ahead of Wednesday’s game, having won ten of their 16 competitive matches played so far this season. This run includes four draws and the victory over Hannover 96 in the DFB Pokal first round as well as seeing their progress through the first three rounds of the Westphalia Pokal. The team from the Alm‘s last loss was at the end of September, to the second team of VfB Stuttgart. Since then, however, they have been unbeaten and have defeated SC Verl, VfL Osnabrück and Hannover 96 II in the league. They also earned a point against 1. FC Saarbrücken, currently in 5th place in the table, and against Alemannia Aachen last weekend with a 1-1 draw.
On Sunday, Union also played out a 1-1 draw against SG Eintracht Frankfurt, which saw them move up to fourth place in the Bundesliga table. In the first round of the DFB Pokal in August, Union won 1-0 at Regionalliga side Greifswalder FC thanks to a goal from Yorbe Vertessen.
The opponents
After a number of difficult years, including two relegations to the third division, DSC Arminia Bielefeld are currently in good form. After twelve matchdays in the 3. Liga, Michél Kniat’s team are sitting in third place with 22 points, behind only SV Sandhausen and Energie Cottbus (both on 23).
Along with 1. FC Nürnberg, the club from East Westphalia are the record holders when it comes to promotions to the Bundesliga, having made the leap into the German top flight eight times since their founding in 1905.
Top performers in the current team with the best defence in the league are centre forward Julian Kania with five goals, his strike partner André Becker, with four, and wing-back Louis Oppie, with three.
The game will be played under the floodlights of Bielefeld’s famous Alm, now known as the SchücoArena. The largest stadium in the East Westphalia-Lippe region, with space for 27,332 spectators, was opened in 1926 and has since been renovated and converted seven times.
The head to head
Union and Arminia have met a total of 22 times competitively. Though the majority of these have ended in draws, that is not an option tomorrow. The record is slightly in favour of Union, who have won eight, while Bielefeld have only emerged victorious on four occasions. The sides last faced each other in a friendly at the beginning of the year, when Union ran out winners, 2-0.
The reunion
Interestingly enough, it is goalkeepers on each side who have a past with their opponents. Alexander Schwolow was the Arminia keeper 43 times, while the Darmstadt born Leo Oppermann will face his former club. He progressed through all of Union’s youth teams from 2016 to 2020 and played a total of 59 times for the U17 and U19’s.
The personnel
Union’s head coach Bo Svensson will have to do without Josip Juranović, Lucas Tousart and Yannic Stein in the second round of the DFB Cup.
The coach’s views ahead of the game
“It’s going to be a cup game with a real cup atmosphere in Bielefeld,” said Union’s head coach, Bo Svensson, during his press conference on Tuesday afternoon. “The team have ambitions of getting promoted, and rightly so, and they’re currently very successful. They’ll certainly demand everything of us. DSC have a clear plan, which we want to resolutely counteract in order to advance to the next round.”
A good 3,400 Union fans will travel to East Westphalia for the away game in the cup. The Union fan vehicle will also be there. Information on visiting the stadium can be found here.
The game will be broadcast live by Sky. There will also be an audio stream on rbb24 Inforadio and on rbb24. As usual, Union will also provide information about the game on the club’s live ticker.