Stuttgart, Dortmund crash out of German Cup

HAMBURG - Pressure continues to build on under-fire VfB Stuttgart coach Markus Babbel after his Bundesliga side suffered a shock 0-1 defeat to second-division Greuther Fuerth in the third round of the German Cup.

Borussia Dortmund were also stunned, going down 2-3 to VfL Osnabrueck of the third division in the third round of matches Tuesday.

Former Stuttgart midfielder Bernd Nehrg was the hero for Fuerth, beating goalkeeper Jens Lehmann from close range to net the only goal of the game after 32 minutes and book his team’s place in the last eight.

Stuttgart currently languish in 14th place in the Bundesliga and have now lost five matches on the trot.

“I am dealing with the situation and hope that I get the chance to continue,” said a concerned Babbel, who now has to rally his team in time for Saturday’s home match against Bayern Munich.

Club manager Horst Heldt refused to give Babbel his total backing, saying only that Stuttgart wouldn’t make a decision on the coach’s future just yet.

“We will sit down and think about it,” said Heldt.

A first-half brace from Angelo Barletta laid the foundations for the second shock of the round as Osnabrueck defeated Dortmund.

Although Nuri Sahin pulled one back for Juergen Klopp’s side on 55 minutes, Benjamin Siegert restored Osnabrueck’s two-goal cushion midway through the second half.

Lucas Barrios hit a post before reducing the deficit to 2-3 in added time, but it was too little, too late for Dortmund.

“We were like a blunt knife tonight,” Dortmund defender Patrick Owomoyela said.

There were no such problems for Cologne, who proved too strong for fourth-division side Eintracht Trier, cruising to a 3-0 win to make the quarter-final stage for the first time in seven years.

Two goals within four first-half minutes from Milivoje Novakovic and Youssef Mohamad put Cologne in control, while Maniche ensured there would be no miraculous comeback for former German international Mario Basler’s side by making it 3-0 on 52 minutes.

Augsburg demolished fellow second-division side MSV Duisburg to book a place in the last eight of the cup for the first time in the club’s history.

Soren Larsen put through his own goal to open the scoring just before the break with second-half efforts from Michael Thurk (47), Uwe Moehrle (55), Sandor Torghelle (74) and Marcel Ndjeng (76) completing the rout.

On Wednesday, Bayern Munich travel to Eintracht Frankfurt, holders Werder Bremen host Kaiserslautern, Schalke 04 visit 1860 Munich, and Hoffenheim play TuS Koblenz.