Round One

One testimony to the dominance of the favorites in Saturday's early-afternoon German Cup matches was that all nine of the home sides were completely goalless at half-time. If there were any questions whether defending champs Wolfsburg would lose interest in the Cup because of their pursuit of the league title, they were dispelled after only four minutes.

Assist king Kevin de Bruyne was at it again, finding Max Kruse who put the Wolves ahead against third-division Stuttgart Kickers. Bas Dost and de Bruyne then added a pair of goals either side of the break. Ihadji Badiane got a late consolation strike as the Wolves went into cruise control, but Nicklas Bendtner completed the 4-1 scoreline in the dying minutes.

That wasn't the most lopsided victory of the day. Schalke jumped allover former Ruhr Valley rivals Duisburg, now in the third division, right from the get-go. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar put the Royal Blues ahead in minute three, and when Duisburg defender Branimir Bajic was sent off just after the half-hour mark, the stage was set for WWE-style beatdown.

Matija Mastasic, Johannes Geis, Franco di Santo and Leon Goretzka all scored, as Schalke cantered to a 5-0 victory. The Royal Blues will be very pleased that their three new acquisitions all found the net along with promising youngster Goretzka.

Cologne's "Minute Man" Modeste

Cologne scored the quickest goal of the day when Anthony Modeste, a new signing from Hoffenheim, hit pay-dirt after only 44 seconds against fourth-division Meppen. The underdogs managed to find their feet again after that early shock but were undone in minute 24 when keeper Benjamin Gommert upended Pawl Olkowski in the box, getting sent off and conceding a penalty.

Modeste was on target from the spot and would eventually complete his hattrick. Simon Zoller finished off the 4-0 scoreline in this one-sided match.

Equally one-side was Leverkusen's 3-0 win against fourth-division Lotte. Stefan Kiessling, Hakan Calhanoglu and Lars Bender did the damage for the Pharmaceuticals. Eintracht Frankfurt also racked up a 3-0 victory over fifth-division Bremen SV. New signing Luc Castaignos, veteran Stefan Aigner and youngster Gianluca Waldschmidt got their names on the scoresheet.

Of the first-division teams, Werder Bremen had the most trouble. Their match against third-division Würzburg Kickers remained scoreless for ninety minutes, as the northern Germans' attack sputtered. It wasn't until extra time - minute 102 to be precise - that striker Anthony Ujah nutmegged keeper Reinhard Brunnhübbner to break the ice. Finn Bartels added a second goal to cement a relatively fortunate 2-0 win for Bremen.

In matches not featuring top-flight teams, third-division Aue upset second-division Greuther Fürth 1-0, and fourth-division Viktoria Cologne came from behind to defeat second-division Union Berlin 2-1. Second-division Braunschweig also got the better of third division Halle 1-0.