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On Wednesday, Borussia Dortmund hosts Hoffenheim in a DFB-Pokal matchup between two of Germany's best teams.
Since losing to Dortmund in the 2014–15 season, Hoffenheim has not advanced to the round of eight; Dortmund's last victory in this competition came in 2021.In fact, Edin Terzic, who was serving as an interim manager at the time, was responsible for Dortmund's sixth DFB-Pokal championship. He led his club to a remarkable 4-1 victory over RB Leipzig in the final in May 2021.
Naturally, Terzic has long since rejoined the team as head coach on a permanent basis. Before losing on the last day of the previous season, BVB came dangerously close to winning their first Bundesliga title in more than ten years. Even though Dortmund was defeated 3–3 by Eintracht Frankfurt on Sunday, they still seem capable of contending for the championship.
That will undoubtedly hold true for Germany's domestic cup, which Leipzig has won the past two years following Die Roten Bullen's loss to Terzic's team in that previously mentioned final. Leipzig has actually advanced to four of the last five championship games, indicating that, with a little bit of luck on their side, Dortmund should be able to achieve a similar level of consistency.
After winning six straight games against Hoffenheim, Terzic and his team would not have been overly shocked to see their name drawn against them, especially since they had home advantage at the Westfalenstadion. However, they will also be aware of their opponents' recent upward trend in play.
After all, Hoffenheim fought against relegation for nearly the whole season last year, even if they ended up in 12th place at the end of the competition. But after taking over in February, Pellegrino Matarazzo eventually led them to safety, prolonging Die Kraichgauer's 15-year Bundesliga tenure in the process.
Hoffenheim has not had a good season since they qualified for the Champions League for the first time in the club's history on two separate occasions by finishing fourth and third in 2016–17 and 2017–18, respectively. In the five seasons that followed, they have finished ninth or lower.
Though they appeared to have turned things around, their thrilling 3-2 victory over Stuttgart, a team that Matarazzo had previously managed, on the road on Saturday allowed them to open up a four-point lead in sixth place ahead of Frankfurt. This suggests that they should aim to finish in a position to qualify for Europe.
Hoffenheim has been in the Bundesliga since 2007, yet in that time they have only made it to the quarterfinals of the DFB-Pokal seven times in their existence. Therefore, Matarazzo and his team will start to dream of a historic cup run if they manage to pull off an unexpected victory in Dortmund on Wednesday.
