German clubs will fight it out in the midweek DFB-Pokal matches.

Hertha Berlin coach Lucien Favre faces the next challenge of a testing season when he takes his Bundesliga strugglers to 1860 Munich on Wednesday, looking to keep their last remaining dream of the season alive.

It may only be September, but after five consecutive defeats in the Bundesliga, Berlin's hopes of qualifying for Europe next season already appear to be shattered.

And they slipped to an embarrassing 1-1 draw with Ventspils in their first Europa League fixture last week as well.

The DFB-Pokal, then, has added significance for Hertha, who are rooted to the bottom of the Bundesliga table.

"It is a huge challenge for me to get out of there," said Favre after yesterday's 4-0 home defeat by Freiburg.

"We are all to blame, and that includes me. It is a very, very difficult situation."

Stuttgart coach Markus Babbel, meanwhile, admitted he is facing the biggest crisis of his coaching career after going down to Cologne on Saturday and he must take his side to fourth division high-flyers Lubeck.

Three Bundesliga sides are certain to fall with the first exiting the competition tomorrow evening when clash between Nurnberg and Hoffenheim.

Bochum meet Schalke in a Westphalian derby later on tomorrow evening before Cologne host Wolfsburg on Wednesday.

Bayern Munich have home advantage against Rot-Weiss Oberhausen while holders Werder Bremen are also at home against St Pauli.

Elsewhere, Hamburg travel to Osnabruck, Borussia Dortmund head to Karlsruhe and Bayer Leverkusen go to the Betzenberg to meet Kaiserslautern.

At least three lower-league teams will book their places in the third round with Eintracht Trier hosting Arminia Bielefeld, Rot Weiss Ahlen entertaining Greuther Furth and Koblenz staging an all-second-division clash with Energie Cottbus.