Nuremberg and Stuttgart meet - far from last season's glory

Nuremberg hover just above the drop zone in 15th place while their chances of retaining the cup title ended in a penalty-shootout Wednesday night against 10 players from second division Carl-Zeiss Jena.

 Stuttgart needed extra-time to beat bottom second division club Paderborn in the cup and are not much better off in the league, placed a modest 12th and effectively out of title contention 14 points behind runaway leaders Bayern Munich.

 They won a surprise league title last year, but have no fond memories of Nuremberg who beat them 3-0 and 4-1 in the league and 2-1 in the cup final as well.

 "We thought of staying at home," Stuttgart general manager Horst Heldt quipped in an interview with the Sport Bild weekly.

 He added on a more serious note: "We are confronted with some injury problems. And some players were mentally down after several recent defeats. The main aim is to make them mentally strong again."

   Stuttgart may have the edge in this respect as they won their cup tie in the end and also beat Bayer Leverkusen 1-0 in the league last weekend.

 Nuremberg, by contrast, are coming off a 3-1 league loss in Wolfsburg plus the club drubbing, which doesn't make life easier for them.

 "Stuttgart definitely have a psychological edge," admitted Nuremberg coach Hans Meyer on Thursday.

 Bayern Munich have no such problems up front, even though they were lucky last Sunday in a 0-0 draw at Borussia Dortmund to avoid a first season defeat. But a 3-1 cup win over Borussia Moenchengladbach will have restored confidence.

 The Bavarians lead by four points going into a home match with mid-table Eintracht Frankfurt hopeful of welcoming back French star Franck Ribery from knee problems and veteran goalkeeper Oliver Kahn from an elbow injury.

 Second-placed SV Hamburg, meanwhile, saw the return of their captain Rafael van der Vaart in Wednesday's 3-1 cup victory against SC Freiburg, with coach Huub Stevens "very happy" about the comeback.

 Hamburg are on a roll, unbeaten in 10 competitive games as they now host eighth-placed Hertha Berlin.

 Third-placed Werder Bremen are also tipped to win against Hansa Rostock, while last season's runners-up Schalke 04 open the weekend action on Friday night at bottom club Energie Cottbus.

 The eastern Germans Cottbus are yet to win this season while fifth-placed Schalke can not afford a fourth game without victory in their effort to stay in contention at the top.

 "Of course we are not happy with the current situation," said Schalke coach Mirko Slomka, whose team trail Munich by nine points.

 The other games are Leverkusen vs. Arminia Bielefeld, Hanover 96 vs. Borussia Dortmund (Saturday), VfL Bochum vs. VfL Wolfsburg and SC Karlsruhe vs. MSV Duisburg (Sunday).

DPA