Stuttgart see off Kaiserslautern, Köln ease past Kiel and Regensburg survive red card
Stuttgart 2 - 1 Kaiserslautern
Stuttgart dominated early on in the game and Nick Woltemade netted his second DFB Pokal goal this season to put the hosts 1-0 up against Kaiserslautern.
Following this, the pressure continued to be piled on Kaiserslautern as Julian Krahl had to save a shot from Ermedin Demirović in the 24th minute.
Just before the half hour mark, Daisuke Yokota hit the post against the run of play against Stuttgart.
In the 41st minute, Marlon Ritter was brought down to gift Kaiserslautern a penalty. This was then cooly converted by Boris Tomiak afterwards.
During the 64th minute, Angelo Stiller and Chris Führich combined cleverly to create another opportunity but Julian Krahl produced a smart reaction save to deny Stiller.
The 75th minute provided some parity for Stuttgart as Ermedin Demirović’s pass eventually found Chris Führich in the box who placed the ball into the bottom right corner.
Kaiserslautern were pushing for an equaliser towards the end of normal time, but Boris Tomiak’s deflected shot comfortably landed above the bar in the 89th minute.
The game ended a close 2-1 and Stuttgart proceeded to the next round.
1.FC Köln 3 - 0 Holstein Kiel
1. FC Köln's first cup home game in over two years came with the promise of finally reaching the third round for the first time in three years.
In this manner, Köln started off on the front foot and capitalized early with a goal from Tim Lemperle coming via a cross in the 7th minute.
His header meant Köln were the first team of the late kick-offs to strike blood.
Half a minute before the halftime break, the dedicated cup goalkeeper Marvin Schwäbe produced a strong parry to keep the clean sheet.
In the 52nd minute, Leart Paqarada hit a free kick which sailed closely over the bar.
Finishing the game off, Luca Waldschmidt scored an absolutely superb goal in the 84th minute hitting the top corner from outside the box to put the Billy Goats two goals up.
Adding salt to the Kiel wound, Luca Waldschmidt grabbed his second to put the cherry on the cake following a deadly counter attack.
The pass from Jan Thielmann was ultra precise to find Waldschmidt, who finished neatly for Köln's third in the game and to end the game at 3-0.
Jahn Regensburg 1 - 0 Greuther Fürth
The first half was rather uneventful despite yellow cards being dished out to both Sebastian Ernst and Bryan-Anthony Chibuike Hein for Regensburg.
Roberto Massimo, however, was bright for Greuther Fürth but was unable to make anything out of a chance in the 24th minute.
No goals in the first half meant both sides entered the second half needing a goal to go through.
In the 59th minute, Rasim Bulić netted from close range to put the home side 1-0 up and in control of the tie.
Just four minutes after this, the same scorer of the goal produced a shocking and rash challenge with both feet sliding in on Niko Gießelmann.
A key chance in the dying moments, the eleven men of Greuther Fürth were unable to capitalize as Damian Michalski’s shot went straight into the keeper’s arms.
Despite finishing the tie with ten men, Regensburg managed to go through to the third round with a win.