Ouédraogo fires Schalke to victory over Gütersloh

Twelve players from the U23s in the squad

Head coach Karel Geraerts named 12 U23 players in his 18-man squad to take on the Regionalliga side. Six senior Schalke players – Ralf Fährmann, Dominick Drexler, Timo Baumgartl, Tobias Mohr, Marcin Kaminski and Assan Ouédraogo – were joined by Steven van der Sloot, Emmanuel Gyamfi, Jimmy Kaparos, Nelson Amadin and Kelsey Meisel in the starting XI. Ron Schallenberg (muscle injury) and Brandon Soppy (rehabilitative work) were unavailable for the game against Gütersloh and the duo will also miss Schalke’s first game back after the international break against Karlsruhe on 31st March.

Schalke dominance but no goals in first half

After the match got off to an even start, the Royal Blues slowly began to impose themselves and control the flow of the game. The first big chance for S04 came after a quarter of an hour, as the ball fell to Kelsey Meisel following Tobias Mohr’s cross in towards Dominick Drexler. The attacker from the U23s got a shot off from close range, but FCG keeper Jarno Peters tipped the ball over the bar. Assan Ouédraogo headed just wide from the resulting corner.

The Royal Blues were letting the ball do the talking as they continued to have the better of their opponents, who looked to close down space quickly and hit S04 on the break. Steven van der Sloot broke free down the right-hand side and whipped a ball in towards the six-yard box, but Jarno Peters intervened before it could reach Nelson Amadin.

The home side would have their first chance just after the half-hour mark. Pascal Widdecke launched a long ball fowards, where Eduard Probst was waiting, but Marcin Kaminski made a crucial interception and allowed an onrushing Ralf Fährmann to scoop the ball up with ease.

Schalke were finding a lot of joy down the left wing, but the Royal Blues were unable to covert their dominance into goals as the first half drew to a close. The best chances would fall to Nelson Amadin and Kelsey Meisel. Tobias Mohr led a Schalke counter, with the ball eventually ending up at Meisel’s feet. The winger’s cross deflected off Lars Beuckmann’s foot towards Amadin, whose effort from close range flew over the bar (38’). Meisel would have the ball back at his feet just one minute later after some nice combination play with Dominick Drexler. The 19-year-old tried to curl one in with the outside of his boot, but Peters was in the right place to ensure that both sides went into the dressing rooms with the scores level

Ouédraogo with the winner

Karel Geraerts didn’t make any changes at the break, while FCG’s head coach Julian Hesse brought goalkeeper Daniel Szczepankiewicz on in place of Jarno Peters. The new man wasn’t called into action straight away, however, as the hosts had the first real opportunity of the second 45. 30 seconds after the ball got rolling again, Eduard Probst let fly from around 20 yards out, but his effort didn’t threaten Ralf Fährmann’s goal. After the early scare, Schalke picked up where they left off in the first half and continued to assert their dominance over Gütersloh. The home side cleared a corner as far as Emmanuel Gyamfi, whose shot from range sailed over the bar (48’). Nelson Amadin danced down the byline and cut the ball back to Kelsey Meisel in the middle of the box, but the winger could not convert (51’). Meisel got another shot off two minutes later, as he was played through on goal by Tobias Mohr, but he was denied by Szczepankiewicz.

FCG’s keeper was powerless to stop the Royal Blues from taking the lead just after the hour mark, however. Nelson Amadin passed to Assan Ouédraogo, who shifted the ball onto his right foot and smashed the ball into the top corner from just outside the box to put Schalke ahead (61’). The goalscorer was right in the thick of things shortly afterwards, as he was brought down in the penalty area by Jeffrey Obst. The referee was not convinced, however, and awarded a free-kick to Gütersloh instead (63’).

Schalke continued to have the lion’s share of possession and knocked the ball around the Gütersloh half for the remainder of the game, while the hosts struggled to hit back. The last half-chance of the game fell to Jimmy Kaparos, but his long-range effort was off-target.

Karlsruhe in 11 days’ time

S04 will not be in competitive action this weekend due to the international break. The Royal Blues will be back on Sunday (31/3) the week after, however, as they welcome Karlsruhe SC to the VELTINS-Arena for matchday 27 of the 2. Bundesliga season.