Defender Ameen Al-Dakhil (thigh) remains sidelined for Tuesday’s last-eight clash with Augsburg, while there is also a big question mark regarding one of VfB’s attacking players. “Nick Woltemade will most likely be unavailable after falling ill yesterday,” said Sebastian Hoeneß, who went on to confirm two of his starting XI for the quarter-final tie – namely his goalkeeper and one of his strikers. “Alexander Nübel will be in goal and Ermedin Demirovic will start,” he revealed. “Goals are good for every striker. He’s creating chances and working hard. His name will be back on the stadium’s big screen soon.”
“A huge opportunity”
Hoeneß admits the 1-0 victory over Augsburg in the Bundesliga earlier this year helps VfB in their preparations for the cup tie, but also says the win on 12 January is “a very long time ago”. The VfB boss continued: “We’ve played several matches since then. That narrow win won’t get us through this game.” Augsburg, after all, are unbeaten since that defeat, having beaten Heidenheim, Werder Bremen and Union Berlin and drawn with St. Pauli. “They’ve built up momentum, they’ve been solid and efficient, and they’ve picked up points,” Hoeneß said, adding that his own players could do with rediscovering some momentum of their own on Tuesday. “We’ve been lacking that in the past few days. Tuesday is a huge opportunity to start [putting that right].”
It definitely won’t be easy for VfB, with Hoeneß expecting a “challenging task” against an Augsburg side who have “boosted their confidence” of late. “We’re in the quarter-final and want to reach the semi-finals,” he added. “That’s all that matters in this difficult knockout game. We’ll give our all, we’ll be ready for a cup battle and we’ll grasp the opportunity at home in front of our fans.”