Sylla strike seals 1-0 win over St. Gallen

A well-earned win rounded off FC Schalke 04’s training camp as the Royal Blues beat Swiss top-flight side FC St. Gallen 1-0 on Saturday (12/07). Moussa Sylla scored the decisive goal in the 32nd minute in front of 1,100 spectators at the Velly Arena in Imst.

Moussa Sylla celebrates with his Schalke teammates after opening the scoring

Becker leads out the team as captain

As in the morning’s game against SV Wehen Wiesbaden, Schalke lined up in a 3-4-2-1 formation, with a completely new XI that hadn’t featured earlier in the day. Head coach Miron Muslic once again made use of the opportunity to give players 90 minutes of action. Timo Becker wore the armband, having been named in the team council the day before alongside Kenan Karaman, Loris Karius, Ron Schallenberg and Max Grüger. Emil Højlund was absent as a precaution after a minor knock to his head in training.

Sylla breaks the deadlock

In front of a stunning mountain backdrop, both teams got stuck in from the first whistle. The early stages belonged to St. Gallen, who applied pressure high up the pitch, but the Knappen gradually took control. Christopher Antwi-Adjei led the first few attacking moves down the right, but keeper Lawrence Ati Zigi remained untroubled. Moussa Sylla fired into the side netting on nine minutes, having narrowly missed connecting with two earlier crosses.

The clearest early chance came in the 17th minute: Ilyes Hamache launched a quick counter after a St. Gallen corner, covering over 50 yards with the ball before cutting inside and shooting from close range. However, Ati Zigi managed to get a toe to it and diverted the ball just wide. From the resulting corner, taken by Vitalie Becker, Mertcan Ayhan rose highest, but his header went narrowly wide.

S04 continued to push for the opener. In the 23rd minute, Timo Becker flicked on a long throw-in to Sylla, whose shot at the far post was blocked at the last second. From the ensuing corner, Nikola Katic had a headed chance, but it too failed to find the target.

St. Gallen had their best moment of the half after 29 minutes through Carlo Boukhalfa, whose long-range effort was comfortably held by Justin Heekeren. But just three minutes later, Schalke struck. After a well-worked move down the left involving Antwi-Adjei and Vitalie Becker, Sylla converted from close range to make it 1-0. Schalke remained the more dominant side up to the break, although Boukhalfa tested his luck once more just before the whistle – this time firing over.

Defence holds firm in second half

St. Gallen boss Enrico Maaßen, formerly of FC Augsburg, made five changes at the break, having already swapped one player late in the first half. Muslic, meanwhile, kept faith with his starting XI, who continued to shut down any threat from the Swiss side.

There was a brief moment of danger when Adrian Gantenbein connected with another sharp delivery from Vitalie Becker, but his shot was blocked (55’). Otherwise, both goalkeepers enjoyed a largely quiet second half. Schalke’s first change came after 62 minutes, with Tidiane Touré replacing Sylla and slotting in just behind Antwi-Adjei, who moved forward into the number 9 role.

As fatigue from a demanding training camp set in, Schalke’s attacking efforts slowed, but the defensive structure held strong. A late change saw Martin Wasinski come on for Hamache, who had suffered a knock (77’), and Schalke comfortably saw out the match to end their time in the Stubaital with a clean sheet and a win.

Double friendly weekend to come

The squad returns to Gelsenkirchen on Monday (14th July). Another double-header awaits next weekend, starting with a home friendly against Dutch top-tier side FC Twente on Saturday (19/07), followed by a trip to Oberliga side Rot Weiss Ahlen on Sunday (20/07). Both matches will kick off at 14:00 CEST.

Statistics:

Schalke: Heekeren – T. Becker, Katic, Ayhan – Gantenbein, Schallenberg, Grüger, V. Becker – Antwi-Adjei, Hamache (77′ Wasinski) – Sylla (62′ Touré)
St. Gallen: Zigi (46′ Watkowiak) – May (46′ Csoboth), Gaal, Stanic – Vandermersch (44′ Owusu), Görtler, Stevanovic (46′ Quintilla), Okoroji – Konietzke (46′ Neziri), Boukhalfa – Vogt (46′ Vallci)
Goals: 1-0 Sylla (32′)
Referee: Macanovic (Austria)
Attendance: 1,100

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