Making history in the German Cup

The winter break has seen some rumblings of discontent at Hoffenheim. Question marks were raised about the decision to sell Vedad Ibisevic and allow Chinedu Obasi and Gylfi Sigurdsson to leave, to the point where Stani defended the club's policy as economically expedient before the club's recent game with Borussia Dortmund. The manager is now confident that he has steered the ship into calmer waters again. The majority of his answers were directed firmly on the game with Fürth. The squad didn't practice penalties, and neither was a note given to goalkeeper Tom Starke, on which was written the favoured corner of all of Fürth's potential penalty-takers. But Stani was quick to point out that his side's preparations have been sufficient. “We are well-prepared and we know what is expected of us. They are vey dangerous on the counter-attack, and will be ready to give it their all”, warned the manager.

Lakic to start?

Aside from Matthias Jaissle and Andreas Ibertsberger, Stani has a clean bill of health for the game. Sven Schipplock is in contention for a starting berth after a week of uninterrupted training behind him, as is Srdjan Lakic. The Croatian, on loan from VfL Wolfsburg until the end of the season, has shaken off a stomach bug and is ready to build on his substitute appearance against FC Augsburg in the league last weekend. “He has come on a lot: the colour has returned to his face and he's been feeling much better in training”, revealed Stanislawski. He also said that there would be changes from the team which drew against Augsburg, a performance about which he was extremely disappointed. “I can say with relative clarity that we will make changes.”

Decent record

Hoffenheim do enjoy a decent record against their upcoming opponents from Franconia. The teams first met in a competitive game in the first round of the Cp in 2002/03, when Hoffenheim were 4-1 victors. They also over came Fürth in another Cup encounter five years later, when goals from Francisco Copado and Carlos Eduardo resulted in a 2-1 win for TSG. And their last meeting, in the league on May 18th 2008, is also a day which Hoffenheim fans look back on with pride. 1899 sealed their promotion to the Bundesliga with an emphatic 5-0 win. A similar result on Wednesday would be the perfect result to kick-start Hoffenheim's assault on the teams above them in the league for the remainder of the season.

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