Amiri sends Mainz to Pokal Second Round | OneFootball

Only Werder Bremen failed to progress among the Bundesliga clubs playing in the First Round of the cup across the past three days, but Dynamo Dresden were determined for a huge upset against the Europa Conference League participants.

Kofi Amoako had the first chance for the hosts barely seconds into the game. Then, Robin Zentner had to make a big save from Nils Fröling‘s header before Dominik Kohr intercepted a dangerous run inside the box. All of that happened in the first five minutes, while Dresden fans created a magnificent atmosphere as usual.

Mainz’s first chance came from a corner-kick when a header from Stefan Bell, who joined the club in 2007(!), forced a first save by Tim Schreiber in the tenth minute. Mainz started to settle after that, and they took the lead with a moment of brilliance.

Nadiem Amiri scored with yet another free-kick at the midpoint of the first-half. Mainz’s new #10 netted his 10th goal for the club that settled the nerves in Dresden. The newly-promoted 2. Bundesliga club next threatened to score when Amoako tried his luck from range in the half-hour mark.

Three minutes later, Paul Nebel was denied by Schreiber after an impressive play put him one-on-one with Dresden’s keeper. The midfielder had another chance parried away by Schreiber when he met the debutant Benedict Hollerbach’s inviting cross.

The former Union Berlin attacker was denied another assist when Arnaud Nordin’s effort narrowly missed the target in the first clear-cut chance of the second-half. However, the hosts regained control, and they had a great opportunity to equalize 25 minutes before the end of regular time.

After coming on as a substitute, Ben Bobzien’s first touch of the ball was an unfortunate handball in the box. Jakob Lemmer saved his blushes, though. His weak penalty was thankfully gathered by Zentner.

The penalty miss killed Dresden’s momentum. It took Luca Schuler’s team until the 80th minute to create the next big chance. There was an incident involving Konrad Faber and Bo Svensson after that. And, in the 89th minute, Lemmer missed yet another great chance when he failed to hit the target from a promising position. The Bundesliga side survived Dresden's late surge to book their place in the next round.