Aachen come into this one with the kind of quiet momentum that often goes unnoticed. They're at home, they're expected to impose themselves, and there's a real sense that the Tivoli crowd will be a factor. We don't have the recent scorelines in front of us, but the club's DNA is clear: physical, direct, and relentless in the final third. They'll have spent the summer sharpening that edge, and a home opener is exactly the stage they thrive on.

Verl, meanwhile, are the classic lower-league overachievers. They punch above their weight, they're organised, and they'll come to frustrate. But there's a reason they're the underdog here. Their recent form, whatever it is, won't have been built on dominating games — it's about staying compact and nicking something on the break. That approach can work, but it leaves them vulnerable when the home side turns up the volume.