Eintracht started the match with Lehmann in defensive midfield instead of Schwegler whowas out with a match ban. Oka Nikolov captained the Eagles, and manager Armin Veh did not change the 4-4-2 formation.
The first 20 minutes were even with no major happenings, both teams took their time to settle into the match in a heated atmosphere created by a crowd of 46,000. The Eagles started first to take control and had slight advantages from around half an hour into the game.
Erwin Hoffer who was facing his former team mates from the previous season had a great chance when he was through on goal after an error in the FCK defense, but Trapp in goal saved his shot (28'). And his striking partner Mo Idrissou came close around ten minutes later but again Trapp was at the end of the shot (39'). The half time stats backed up that Eintracht had more of the game: 9-5 shots, 5-2 corners and 60% ball possesion.
No substitions were made by either manager going into the second half. And it was a similar match compared to the first 45 minutes, an even game and Eintracht being the more active team. Kaiserslautern stood pretty deep and rather reacted than advancing towards the Eintracht goal. But no major chances were created on either side. Shechter and Sukuta-Pasu had a couple of half chances for Kaiserslautern. Hoffer's goal after 66 minutes was disallowed, the ref had seen a foul in the build up which was a debatable decision.
Kaiserslautern's manager Kurz had made two substitutions in the 65th minute. After 73 minutes Veh also took Hoffer off and brough on Rob Friend, four minutes later Matmour replaced Rode (77'). But the match did not pick up speed and not much happened in front of either goal. It was no surprise after all that the match went into extra time.
In the first half of extra time Caio came on for Alex Meier (97') and straight away set up Jung in the FCK box but the youngster could not control the ball for a shot. Caio put some spark into Eintracht's attack with a few shots and free-kicks, also in the second half of extra time, also Köhler had a go. But it seemed that this was match was going to penalties. In a situation that looked completely in control a deflected pass from the FCK midfield fell to Sukuta-Pasu who finished from close range (119'). It was the lucky punch in an even match, the Eagles would have deserved to go to the penalty shoot out as they had shown a good performance against the Bundesliga team.
Rob Friend even came close to equalise with seconds to go but his try was cleared off the line. It was an unlucky defeat in the end for the Eagles, the first one after five months without losing. They can now fully focus on the league and on getting promoted - next up is Sunday's match away to FC Ingolstadt.
