Holders Bayern Munich were knocked out of the German Cup after going down 4-2 at Alemannia Aachen on Wednesday.

Aachen raced into a 3-0 lead in the first half of the third-round tie thanks to two goals from Romanian striker Laurentiu Reghecampf and one by Marius Ebbers. The hosts then withstood a storming fightback from Bayern, 13 times Cup winners including the last two editions.

Substitute Lukas Podolski pulled one back in the 47th minute and Mark van Bommel cracked the ball in from the edge of the area in the 68th. Roy Makaay and Lucio missed excellent chances before Aachen, promoted from the second division last season, sealed a place in the quarter-finals with a Jan Schlaudraff goal in the final minute.

It was a case of history repeating itself for Aachen, the last side to beat Bayern in a German Cup tie with a 2-1 triumph in the 2003-04 quarter-finals.

Hanover 96 also progressed by beating second division MSV Duisburg 1-0 with a goal from Hanno Balitsch. VfL Wolfsburg defeated second division Greuther Fuerth 3-1 with goals from Jacek Krzynowek, Diego Klimowicz and Rick Hoogendorp. Kickers Offenbach won the all-second division battle with Wacker Burghausen 2-1 while VfB …

Bayern Munich captain Oliver Kahn re-affirmed his intention to retire at the end of the season if the Bundesliga side wins the UEFA Champions League, adding that he would definitely quit in 2008 when his contract runs out.

‘If we were to win the Champions League this season, it’s quite possible I’ll retire on the spot,’ Kahn, 37, told German television. ‘I want to try to quit at the top, I want to have the feeling of being at the peak. I definitely don’t want to hang on to the point where people are saying: ‘Send that old guy home’.’

Kahn says he does not know what he will do after quitting. ‘I really don’t know’ said the keeper, who retired from international competition in July after helping Germany beat Portugal with a strong performance in the match for third place at the 2006 World Cup finals.

Kahn joined Bayern in 1994 and has since won the Champions League and seven league titles as well as two Germany Player of the Year awards. He also won the FIFA Golden Ball award for most outstanding player at the 2002 World Cup finals in Korea and Japan.

Bayern have been drawn to …

The German Football Association (DFB) have confirmed their national team will take on England in a friendly international at Wembley on August 22, 2007.

Germany coach Joachim Low recently caused an uproar by announcing the match to inaugurate the new stadium before the English Football Association have confirmed the date.

Now the DFB have gone one step further to announce, via their official website, that the game will take place with a 7.30pm kick-off.

The new stadium is set to be completed by mid-2007 after several technical setbacks and budgetary problems.

Wembley last hosted a major football match at the end of 2000, when incidentally, Germany played England as well. Germany beat England 1-0 in the World Cup qualifier which triggered the resignation of Kevin Keegan as coach.…

Bayern Munich director of football Uli Hoeness has quashed England midfielder Owen Hargreaves’s hopes of joining Manchester United in the transfer window. But a future sale was not completely ruled out by Hoeness, who said: ‘If we believe at some point we have found a replacement for Owen who perhaps costs less than we’d get for him, then we would perhaps think about it.’

Hargreaves extended his contract with Bayern in October 2005 until after the 2010 season.

‘Nothing’s going to happen during the winter transfer window,’ Hoeness told German television. ‘We’ve got Real Madrid in the Champions League and we’re not going to weaken the team. We’re not a bank, but rather a football club.’

Hargreaves, who suffered a broken left fibula on Sept. 17 and has not played since, has repeatedly urged Bayern executives to sell him to United after the English club made a determined bid to sign him after the World Cup.

‘Our top priority is: what can I do to strengthen the team? What good is it going to do me to have 30 million (euros) more in the bank?’

‘We want to advance far in the Champions League, we want to catch Werder Bremen …

Borussia Dortmund, who sacked coach Bert van Marwijk on Monday, have reached an agreement with former Hertha Berlin coach Juergen Roeber to replace him, according to Kicker magazine’s online edition.

Bild newspaper reported on Tuesday that Dortmund managing director Hans-Joachim Watzke had interviewed Roeber for the job after first choice Ottmar Hitzfeld turned down their offer on Monday.

‘Yes, it’s true that we had a talk with him (Roeber) – there’s no point trying to conceal it anymore,’ Watzke told Bild. ‘It was a very good talk, but I don’t want to say any more at this time.’

Roeber was most recently coach of Partizan Belgrade but they parted company on May 11 after a disappointing season. Roeber has also coached VfL Wolfsburg and VfB Stuttgart.

He enjoyed a successful spell in his six years in Berlin from 1996 to 2002, leading the club out of the second division into the top flight and then into the Champions League.

Dortmund sacked van Marwijk on Monday after a 2-1 defeat by Bayer Leverkusen on Sunday left the side in ninth place with 22 points at the halfway stage of the season.

Dortmund have won only two of nine home matches this …

Werder Bremen beat VfL Wolfsburg 2-1 on Sunday with a blistering free kick from Brazilian defender Naldo in the 86th minute to claim the Bundesliga’s unofficial ‘winter championship’.

Werder, the league’s top-scoring side with 47 goals, won the league championship three of the last five times they were first at the halfway point before the Bundesliga’s long winter break — including in 2003/04 when they last won the championship.

In the last four seasons and 30 of the previous 43, the team leading at the winter break has won the championship.

Werder and second-placed Schalke 04, who beat Arminia Bielefeld 1-0 away on Saturday, are both on 36 points, but Bremen are far ahead on goal difference.

Champions Bayern Munich, who crushed Mainz 4-0 away, are third on 33 points, ahead of VfB Stuttgart who slipped to fourth on 32 points after a goalless draw at Energie Cottbus.

‘We fought hard when we had to and played well enough to win,’ Werder coach Thomas Schaaf told Arena television.

‘It was difficult against a team with a packed defence like Wolfsburg. We were patient and kept the pressure on them. We had enough chances earlier to get the lead back but …

Miroslav Klose struck twice to send Werder Bremen top of the Bundesliga with a 3-1 win over Hertha Berlin on Saturday, as Bayern Munich lost ground in a 1-1 draw at home to Borussia Moenchengladbach.

Werder could hardly have had a better warm-up for next week’s Champions League showdown with Barcelona. Diego scored from a penalty and Klose’s first-half double made the game safe after Josip Simunic had grabbed an equaliser.

With 15 games played they lead the table with 30 points, one ahead of Schalke 04. The result means Schalke will have to win at Nuremberg on Sunday if they are to regain top spot.

VfB Stuttgart are third on 28 following their goalless draw at Mainz on Friday.

Bayern had a chance to move up to second but the champions had to settle for a draw that leaves them in fourth place on 27 points. Martin Demichelis headed them into the lead in the 23rd minute but Michael Delura equalised 10 minutes later.

There was further misery for Hamburg SV, who lost 2-1 at VfL Bochum, one of their main rivals in the relegation battle.

A sixth defeat of the league season left Hamburg second from bottom with …

Bayern Munich travel to Hamburg SV on Saturday for their Bundesliga match this weekend. The match offers Hamburg coach Thomas Doll a final chance to spark a revival at the sorry northern club.

Hamburg’s 3-1 defeat away to Arsenal in the Champions League on Tuesday left them bottom of their group and without a point from the five matches played so far. Their Bundesliga form has been just as bad with 13 games played. They are languishing second from bottom with just one win, and a total of 11 points.

Doll has been assured that his job is safe for the time being but the patience of the club might be running out soon.

If Saturday’s game is to spark the start of a fightback rather than the end for their coach, the team will have to recapture the spirit that carried them so well just last season. There were some signs of that in the defeat against Arsenal as the Germans took the lead with a great strike from Rafael van der Vaart and scrapped hard throughout the game.

‘Our only chance is to pick ourselves up and get back in there fighting,’ goalkeeper Stefan Waechter said after the …