S04 beaten 1-0 in Braunschweig

First appearance for Tauer – Fährmann back in the squad

Head coach Thomas Reis made three changes to the team that won 3-1 in Braunschweig last week in the DFB-Pokal. Niklas Tauer replaced Cedric Brunner at right-back to make his competitive debut for the club. Brunner missed out due to a foot problem. Bryan Lasme made his first start for the club, taking Dominick Drexler’s (bench) place on the right flank.

Thomas Ouwejan was fit again after his calf issue to start at left-back, meaning Henning Matriciani dropped to the bench. Ralf Fährmann made the squad for the first time this season after recovering from his muscle strain, as did Yusuf Kabadayi and Keke Topp. Sebastian Polter was unavailable after suffering a cut to his foot.

Karaman goal ruled out for offside

Schalke had the ball in the back of the home team’s net after just four minutes, but the goal was rightly ruled out for offside after Kenan Karaman had headed in Thomas Ouwejan’s free-kick at the back post. Both the Turkey international and Timo Baumgartl were in an offside position from the Dutchman’s delivery. At the other end, Anthony Ujah’s curling attempt went just past the far post (5’). He had Eintracht’s next chance too, only to see Ouwejan crucially block his close-range effort for a corner (8’).

The home side had the better of the opening stages and created another decent opportunity in the 12th minute. A quickly taken free-kick saw Fabio Kaufmann slipped in behind. His shot was well saved by Marius Müller. Simon Terodde strongly appealed for a penalty shortly afterwards after contact from Jannis Nikolaou in the box, however it wasn’t enough for referee Bastian Dankert. Five minutes later, Bryan Lasme hammered a shot into the side-netting from a tight angle.

Kaufmann puts Eintracht ahead

Braunschweig took the lead after 21 minutes thanks to Fabio Kaufmann’s goal. They quickly initiated a counter-attack after winning the ball in midfield and Ujah played Kaufmann in behind, and he slotted it past Marius Müller for 1-0.

Schalke took a while to show signs of life after going behind, but very nearly levelled things up after 32 minutes. Kenan Karaman, who went off injured a few minutes later and was replaced by Soichiro Kozuki, lifted the ball over the goalkeeper Ron-Thorben Hoffmann, only to see his attempt fly inches past the far post. The final notable moment of the first period saw Marius Müller push Ujah’s shot from 20 yards out wide for a corner (38’).

Three changes, Terodde’s goal chalked off

Thomas Reis made three alternations for the second half. Niklas Tauer, Lino Tempelmann and Paul Seguin made way for Henning Matriciani, Assan Ouédraogo and Dominick Drexler. S04 began strongly after the interval, with Bryan Lasme bursting down the right and putting a ball in for Soichiro Kozuki. He, however, could only connect with his shin and the ball went well wide (46’).

S04 were more threatening in the final third than in the first half and looked to have scored the equaliser in the 53rd minute. Henning Matriciani played the ball through to captain Terodde and he beat Hoffmann to seemingly make it 1-1. However, after VAR took a look at the goal, they decided that the number nine was narrowly offside and it was chalked off. Four minutes later, Soichiro Kozuki hit a shot over the bar. Yusuf Kabadayi was handed his Schalke debut with just over an hour played – he took Lasme’s place out wide.

Ouwejan free-kick clips the bar, Terodde’s header saved

Schalke kept pushing forward in search of a leveller and came close to finding it in the 68th minute. Thomas Ouwejan’s free-kick from just outside the area dipped and clipped the top of the bar.

As the Royal Blues increasingly took more risks, the hosts were able to find more space for counter-attacks. Their best late opportunity came for Rayan Philippe – his left-footed strike was parried wide by Müller (78’). The closest S04 came to rescuing a point in the final 10 minutes or so was via Simon Terodde’s header from Kabadayi’s cross, tipped over the bar by Hoffmann (81’).

Philippe couldn’t properly connect after Ujah’s header down to him (87’) and the Nigerian himself was denied by the legs of Müller late on (90’+3). Assan Ouédraogo had the Knappen’s final chance, but hit the ball over the bar and the visitors therefore left Braunschweig empty-handed.

Home game against Kiel

S04 are back in action on Friday (25/8) at home to Holstein Kiel. Kick off at the VELTINS-Arena is at 18:30 CEST.