BOYS IN BROWN LOOK TO MAINTAIN CUP MOMENTUM AT STUTTGART
Friday, 16. August 2019, 16:46 Uhr
Week 3 of the nascent season sees the Boys in Brown go to VfB Stuttgart tomorrow (kick-off: 1300 CET) hoping to capitalise on the momentum from last week's DFB Cup win at VfB Lübeck and produce a focused performance to gain their first points at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in more than 23 years.
The overwhelming feeling in the St. Pauli camp after Sunday's game at VfB Lübeck was a mixture of joy and relief. Jos Luhukay's side had edged through an epic cup-tie in a penalty shootout to reach the second round again after several failed attempts. It was also their first competitive win of the season following the 1-1 draw at Arminia Bielefeld and the 3-1 home defeat against Greuther Fürth. And aside from the positive mental effect, the Boys in Brown will also take comfort from the morale they showed in fighting their way back from 2-0 down.
Buoyed by this success, the Boys in Brown now go to VfB Stuttgart, who also progressed to the second round of the cup with a narrow 1-0 victory at third-division Hansa Rostock on Monday evening. The Swabians are unbeaten in three competitive games under new coach Tim Walter, having beaten Hannover 2-1 in the battle of two of the relegated Bundesliga sides on the opening day. A week later, they had to settle for a draw at Heidenheim, however, despite racing into a 2-0 lead early in the second half.
Stuttgart lost out to Union Berlin in last season's Bundesliga promotion/relegation play-off (2-2, 0-0) and will therefore be going all out to collect another three points in their bid to go straight back up, a feat they managed with aplomb on their one and only previous sojourn at this level in the 2016-17 season. Two last-gasp wins over the Boys in Brown (2-1, 1-0) played their part in that championship-winning campaign.
Speaking during the week, defensive utility man Marc Hornschuh described the prospect of going up against favourites Stuttgart as a "very enticing" one. "The whole team can hardly wait to test their mettle against players of the calibre of Mario Gomez and Daniel Didavi in front of a sell-out crowd of more than 50,000 fans at the Mercedes-Benz Arena," he said. "After the game we want to be able to say we gave it our best shot and put in a good performance, so let's see what happens."
The Boys in Brown have taken just one point from their previous visits to Stuttgart (a 1-1 draw in the Bundesliga on 30.3.1996), so if they are to come away with something this time they will have to "put in a good team performance and push them to the limit for 90 minutes," as goalkeeper Robin Himmelmann put it.
Photos: Witters/Eibner
