Saarbrücken vs 1. FC Kaiserslautern DFB-Pokal Semi-Final: Match Facts, Team News and Predicted Lineups

Match Facts

Despite having made the semi-final of the cup five times, Saarbrücken have never made it to a single DFB-Pokal final ever.

Kaiserlautern's manager Friedhelm Funkel is affectionately known as the "Feuerwehrmann" (fireman) by some in Germany due to his tendency to be a last-resort option for teams heading for relegation.

Kai Brünker was the hero in the games against both Eintracht Frankfurt and Borussia Mönchengladbach en-route to the semi-finals of this year's edition of the Pokal. In the 3. Liga this season, he has ten goals.

Funkel himself has been in the DFB-Pokal twice as a manager before, in 1998 with MSV Duisburg and once again in 2006 with Eintracht Frankfurt but he lost both of them with these respective sides.

At seventy-years-old, the ex-1. FC Köln coach could become one of the oldest to ever coach a team in the final of the cup should he win.

Kaiserslautern have been in the cup semis eleven times, and have won a neat amount of seven of these. Their last DFB-Pokal final was in 2003 under Eric Gerets when they were in the Bundesliga.

Team News

Saarbrücken

Sebastian Jacob is out with a knee injury and Patrick Schmidt is unavailable with a broken leg. They also have a few doubts with Neudecker and Uaferro both remaining doubtful for Tuesday's clash.

Kaiserslautern

Hendrick Zuck is out with a knee injury. Ragnar Ache, Philipp Klement and the ex- 1. FC Köln backup goalkeeper Julian Krahl are all doubts.

Lineups

Saarbrücken

Schreiber; Thoelke, Zeitz (c), Boeder; Rizzuto, Kerber, Sontheimer, Gaus; Naïfi, Brünker, Rabihić

Kaiserslautern

Himmelmann; Zimmer (c), Elvedi, Tomiak, Puchacz; Niehues, Kaloč; Opoku, Ritter, Redondo; Hanslik