S04 eliminated from DFB-Pokal against Augsburg

Seven changes to the starting XI

As announced by Kees van Wonderen one and a half weeks ago, Justin Heekeren started in goal instead of Ron-Thorben Hofmann. Further changes were made to the side which began the 4-3 defeat against Greuther Fürth. Felipe Sanchez, who was sent off against the Clover Leaves but was eligible to play in the DFB-Pokal, was named on the bench. He was replaced by Marcin Kaminski at left-centre-back in a 4-2-3-1 system. Anton Donkor began on the wing as Derry John Murkin moved into a midfield pivot alongside Max Grüger.

Ron Schallenberg and Moussa Sylla, who both picked up knocks in the last league match, were not part of the matchday squad. Kenan Karaman returned to the side after serving his suspension, with the captain leading the line against FCA. An attacking trio of Tobias Mohr, Janik Bachmann and Mehmet Can Aydin also started, as they replaced Lino Tempelmann (workload management after a long period out due to injury), Amin Younes (discomfort during final training session) and Paul Seguin (bench). Defender Tim Schmidt and attacker Seok-ju Hong from Schalke U23s were named in a first-team squad for the very first time. Both the former and Mauro Zalazar were brought on in the second half to make their first-team debuts.

Claude-Maurice gives Augsburg the lead

S04 prioritised defensive stability against their top-tier opposition, but were also looking for ways to get forward on several occasions. However, it was to be Marius Wolf who had the first noteworthy attempt of the game after four minutes, but his shot from 16 yards out was blocked by Donkor. A few minutes later, Dimitrios Giannoulis tried his luck. The Greek shot from the left-hand side of the penalty box, but the effort lacked precision and rolled wide of the right post (9’).

After a 15-minute period without any real opportunities, in which the hosts saw considerably more of the ball but were unable to make anything of this prolonged possession, FCA took the lead after 26 minutes through Alexis Claude-Maurice. Frank Onyeka played the ball to the Frenchman on the edge of the box before he sent a shot which took a slight bobble before reaching the back of the net to make it 1-0.

The hosts then had another good chance just three minutes later. A cross in from the left landed at the feet of Marius Wolf, who elected to shoot from a tight angle. Anton Donkor was able to intervene and block Wolf’s attempt as the ball went out for a corner. Wolf found himself in a good shooting position in the 40th minute, but the Augsburg right-back didn’t make a clean contact with the ball and sent it well wide of the target.

S04 dominate after the break

The visitors came out for the second half with real fight and were the more active side at the start of the second half. Kees van Wonderen’s side largely set the tone after the break, with Augsburg rarely getting anywhere near the Schalke goal. In contrast, Schalke had their first shot on goal in the 52nd minute. The ball fell to Taylan Bulut following a corner, but his shot from the edge of the box went wide. Derry John Murkin would them come even closer to levelling the scores. The Englishman was laid off by Seguin before taking aim and forcing Finn Dahmen into making a strong reaction save, as the FCA keeper tipped Murkin’s shot over the bar (61’).

A few minutes later, the ball was in the back of the Augsburg net. Kenan Karaman headed into the top-right corner from substitute Paul Seguin’s free kick, but referee Frank Willenborg cut the celebrations short after the Schalke captain was adjudged to be offside. The correct decision, and a tough one to take for S04 in the 70th minute of the game, as it would have been a more-than-deserved equaliser given how the game was going up to this point. The next chance fell to substitute Felipe Sanchez in the 82nd minute. He met a corner and tried to head it goalwards, but didn’t connect properly with the ball, and ultimately, the ball went a good metre above the goal frame.

Augsburg hadn’t done much in the second half at all, but three minutes before the end of normal time, the hosts scored from a set-piece to make it 2-0 and put the game to bed. Arne Maier’s free kick took a big deflection off the Schalke wall and wrongfooted keeper Justin Heekerens. The ball flew in via the crossbar as the home side doubled their advantage. FCA then scored a third in injury time through Samuel Essende. The striker was in an offside position, but nevertheless the goal was given, with VAR only coming into play in the round of 16 of the DFB-Pokal. This decision wouldn’t prove to have an impact on the result, at least, but it did make the scoreline less representative of the story of the game.

An away trip to Ulm up next

Schalke are next in action this coming Friday (1/11) as Kees van Wonderen and his side travel to face promoted side SSV Ulm. The game kicks off at 18:30 CET at the Donaustadion.