Vedad Ibisevic scored two goals with the span of six minutes in the opening half to complete Hertha BSC's comeback over second division side 1. FC Heidenheim, winning 2-3 at the Voith-Arena. With this victory, Hertha advance to the semi-finals of the DFB-Pokal where they will face off against Borussia Dortumund.
Flurry of goals in opening half hour
In a bit of a shocking turn of events, the home team scored the opening goal aided by an big blunder from Rune Jarstein. Off of a corner kick, Marc Schnatterer whipped in a good delivery that Arne Feick made a run to get a slight touch on cross. Jarstein really should have gathered the ball comfortably but instead, it squirted past him and into the net.
Heidenheim's top flight opponents though would make a statement though rather quickly after conceding. Hertha stormed into their own attacking third of the pitch using the width available to them. Mitchell Weiser sped down the right hand side, finding space to supply a wonderful ball into the middle of the penalty area where Hertha had both Salomon Kalou and Ibisevic waiting to get on the end of the service. It was the big Bosnian who composed himself enough to fire his effort in behind Kevin Müller.
Seven minutes later, Weiser and Ibisevic combined again for their club's second goal of the match. The former Bayern Munich man sent in an excellent ball inside the eighteen yard box that deflected off of the latter's right shin on the volley and found the bottom right hand corner of the goal after making a very well-timed diagonal run.
The hosts started out brilliantly in this match scoring in the opening ten minutes, but faded minutes later as they gave up two quick goals in that opening half, resulting in being down 1-2 by the time that the
Haraguchi scores wonder goal
Genki Haraguchi had a solid match, completing a good percentage of passes while tracking back and defending on the edge of the eighteen yard box; he also scored the best goal of the night. Haragachui was found in acres of space and weaved his way past a couple of Heidenheim defenders. He lined up his shot and rifled it past the opposition goalkeeper low past a diving Müller two minutes before the hour mark.
As time was winding down, Ben Halloran got brought down by Weiser in the area and had to be replaced by because he had picked up a knock. Marc Schnatterer stepped up from 12 yards away and buried his spot kick. At this stage of the match, it was too little too late for the second division club as the goal turned out to be merely a consolation prize at this stage of the match.
Pál Dárdai must surely be happy that the next round of this competition does not occur until the middle part of April as this means that his men can focus on maintaining their fine league form and continue to fight their way into a European competition whether that be the Champions League or the Europa League.