Dynamo Dresden host Stuttgart in the first round of the DFB-Pokal on Friday.
Dynamo Dresden will be competing in the third tier of German football after suffering relegation last season, while Stuttgart narrowly preserved their Bundesliga status.
Match preview
Since being relegated from the Bundesliga in 1995, Dynamo Dresden have regularly drifted between the second and fourth tiers of German football, having won the third division as recently as 2021.
That will once again be their primary aim this season, although a cup run can never be viewed as a bad thing for any club in any division.
Since reaching the semi-final of the 1994 DFB Pokal, when they were defeated 2-0 by eventual champions Werder Bremen, Dynamo Dresden have only twice made it beyond the second round.
Being drawn against Bundesliga opposition, albeit at home, does not improve their chances of ending that run this campaign.
However, with their season already beginning after a pulsating 4-3 defeat to 1860 Munich at the weekend, Markus Anfang will be hoping that his side can catch Stuttgart cold in their opponents' first competitive match of the campaign.
However, Stuttgart have looked much improved in pre-season, winning all four of their matches against Boblingen, FC Zurich, Brentford and Valencia, scoring 17 goals overall.
The 5-2 win against Valencia last weekend did not resemble a friendly, either, with plenty of heavy tackles going in from both teams. Silas was in inspired form, scoring and assisting either side of half time, with Darko Churlinov and Tiago Tomas both getting themselves on the scoresheet too.
While Pellegrino Matarazzo's side may have overachieved upon their return to the Bundesliga when finishing in the top half two seasons ago, the opposite was probably true when only avoiding the dreaded relegation playoff by virtue of goal difference last campaign.
The 44-year-old will be hoping for a steadier season this time around, with an assured win away to Dynamo Dresden on Friday the perfect beginning towards achieving that aim.
- L
Team News
Dynamo Dresden are likely to be without midfielders Luca Hermann, Jongmin Seo, Jonas Oehmichen and Panagiotis Vlachodimos due to injury.
Manuel Schaffler could earn a start from Anfang having made an impact from the bench with a goal in Saturday's defeat to 1860 Munich, with Christian Conteh potentially making way.
Stuttgart, meanwhile, are expected to have Florian Schock, Nikolas Nartey, Tanguy Coulibaly and Thomas Kastanaras absent through injury.
Defensive midfielder Orel Mangala recently tested positive for coronavirus, but the 24-year-old looks set to join Nottingham Forest in a £12.7m deal in any case so will not be involved either way.
New signing Josha Vagnoman should be handed his competitive debut in defence.
Dynamo Dresden possible starting lineup:
Drljaca; Becker, Ehlers, Knipping, Park; Kade, Akoto, Arslan; Schaffler, Kutschke, Borkowski
Stuttgart possible starting lineup:
Muller; Anton, Mavrapanos, Ito; Vagnoman, Endo, Ahamada, Fuhrich; Tomas, Kalajdzic, Silas
We say: Dynamo Dresden 1-3 Stuttgart
Stuttgart have looked scintillating offensively in pre-season, and we expect to see goals in Dresden on Friday.
The hosts have enough about them to grab a goal but we cannot see beyond the Bundesliga side making their superior quality pay on the day.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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