Schalke defeat SC Verl 1-0 in a pre-season friendly

Head coach Frank Kramer went with a 4-4-2 formation and included three summer signings in the starting XI. Alexander Schwolow started in goal, Florent Mollet played on the right of the midfield four and Sebastian Polter began up front next to Marius Bülter. Tom Krauß played in defensive midfield for the second half, whilst Marcin Kaminski got his first minutes of pre-season. The centre-back joined training later after spending a few weeks with Poland for the Nations League at the end of last season. Can Bozdogan, who spent 2021/22 on loan at Besiktas, took Mollet’s place for the second 45 minutes. Just like in the first two friendlies, Kramer made 11 changes at the break.

S04 too sloppy in the final third

It was clear straight away that this friendly would be a completely different kettle of fish to the other two against VfB Hüls and Blau-Weiß Lohne. The away side, who will start their 3. Liga season on 23rd July away to 1. FC Saarbrücken, had the first chances at the Parkstadion. Jan-Phillip Eichhorn put one just wide from 25 yards out (5’), then Alexander Schwolow made two saves from Leon Bürger efforts (6’, 7’). S04 were a bit too sloppy in the final third with their passes, resulting in a lack of opportunities.

Verl goalkeeper Niclas Thiede was called into action for the first time after 25 minutes. A bit of ping-pong in the box resulted in the ball heading towards his goal, though it was easy enough for him to collect the ball. The only other notable moment in the first period saw Schwolow hold a shot from range by Cyrill Akono (34’).

Matriciani breaks the deadlock

The start of the second half went a lot better for the Royal Blues. Marvin Pieringer’s acrobatic effort almost made it 1-0, but he was denied by Thiede (48’). The move continued and Blendi Idrizi’s ball across the six-yard box found Henning Matriciani at the far post. He scrambled the ball over the line to break the deadlock (48’). Substitute Ralf Fährmann was on hand to punch away a dangerous Nico Ochojski free-kick at the other end nine minutes later.

That chance didn’t change the fact that Schalke had more of the play in the second half. Tom Krauß had two decent opportunities to double S04’s lead, firstly clearing the bar (64’) and then putting one wide (72’) – both times he had been set up by Marvin Pieringer.

With 15 minutes to play, Pieringer played Idrizi in behind on the left flank, before he had a shot blocked from a tight angle by Thiede in the Verl goal (75’). Despite a few more bright moves, including one which saw an Idrizi shot from range in the 89th minute, the home team couldn’t find a second goal.

Another friendly against a third-division team

The fourth game of pre-season is in just three days against SV Meppen on Saturday (9/7). Kick off at the Parkstadion will be at 13:00 CEST.