After the fourth round of league matches, the German Cup arrived as scheduled.
Werder Bremen welcomed their first German Cup opponent, a team from the 3. Liga—Münster.
Two days later, they would play the fifth round of the Bundesliga away against Freiburg.
To conserve energy and avoid injuries,
Schaaf fielded a large number of substitutes and young players against Münster.
Key players such as De Bruyne, Lin Quan, and Fritz all sat on the bench, while some regular starters had not even made the squad.
They had assumed that a third-tier team would pose no real threat.
When Elia, returning from injury, scored in the 45th minute of the first half, it seemed to confirm that assumption.
But after the second half began, the situation on the pitch changed abruptly.
Münster striker Taylor scored twice, in the 54th and 81st minutes.
He not only turned the match around, but also pushed Werder Bremen to the brink.
Fortunately, Werder Bremen's young center forward Füllkrug stepped up. He scored in the 85th minute to level the score for his team.
Schaaf hesitated at this point. There was not much time left—should he bring on Lin Quan, De Bruyne, and several other starters for one final all-out push to see if they could snatch a winner?
After giving it some thought, he ultimately decided to wait. The young players on the pitch had still performed to his satisfaction in the closing stages.
Besides, according to the rules, a draw would lead to extra time.
Extra time gave him thirty minutes, more than enough to make adjustments through substitutions.
In the end, the ninety minutes of regular time came to an end with neither side able to change the score, and the match entered extra time.
After extra time began, Münster suddenly launched a