Darmstadt 98 secured a 2-1 victory over Carl Zeiss Jena in the Round of 64 of the DFB-Pokal at Ernst-Abbe-Sportfeld on Saturday afternoon. Milan Smit opened the scoring in the eleventh minute before Elias Löder equalised for the hosts just before the half-hour mark. Lance Duijvestijn restored Darmstadt's lead two minutes later and the visitors held on for a crucial away win.
Smit's goal came from a well-worked move and punished Jena for sitting too deep. To be fair, the home side responded well and Löder's strike levelled matters. And here's the thing — the visitors took the lead again almost immediately after, catching Jena on the break. By then, Darmstadt had already shown they would not go away easily.
The match statistics tell a clear story. Darmstadt enjoyed 53 per cent possession and created three big chances compared to Jena's one. Both sides registered ten shots with five on target, but the visitors converted more of their opportunities. Expected goals stood at 1.46 for Darmstadt and 0.86 for Jena, reflecting the quality of their openings.
Jena made four substitutions in the second half, bringing on Jean Miguel Boog, Manasse Eshele, Carlo Sickinger and Noah Weißhaupt. Darmstadt responded with three changes, introducing Emilio Munser, Raoul Petretta and Manolo Merx. Kevin Lankford picked up a yellow card in the 66th minute while Sören Reddemann was cautioned late on.
The result means Darmstadt progress to the next round while Jena's DFB-Pokal campaign comes to an end. The visitors had lost their last competitive fixture against Dynamo Dresden but showed resilience to overcome a determined home side. Jena, meanwhile, will look to build on their recent form in the league.
