An own goal and a penalty kick were to decide the Victory Cup in Antalya – unfortunately not in Werder Bremen’s favour. The Green-Whites were beaten 2:1 (1:0) by Schalke 04 in their second mini-tournament clash.
An own goal and a penalty kick were to decide the Victory Cup in Antalya – unfortunately not in Werder Bremen’s favour. The Green-Whites were beaten 2:1 (1:0) by Schalke 04 in their second mini-tournament clash.
An own goal and a penalty kick were to decide the Victory Cup in Antalya – unfortunately not in Werder Bremen’s favour. The Green-Whites were beaten 2:1 (1:0) by Schalke 04 in their second mini-tournament clash. Werder found themselves 2:0 down thanks to a horrific Naldo own goal (34’) and a Rafinha penalty after a hand ball decision against Jurica Vranjes (59’). Leon Andreasen pulled Werder back into the tie with a strike from distance (67’) but the Dane’s goal was to prove too little, too late.
harnik and Kruse in the starting eleven
It was clear before the kick-off that Schalke would only need a draw to take the Victory Cup trophy thanks to goals scored against SC Freiburg, Werder, on the other hand, would need a win!! Coach Thomas Schaaf saw the game as an opportunity to try out some of his less regularly tested personnel with ‘Under-23’ players Martin Harnik and Max Kruse on either side of the back four, allowing Petri Pasanen and Dusko Tosic both a breather and a place on the bench initially. Other changes to the Freiburg game included starting with Leon Andreasen, Jurica Vranjes and Ivan Klasnic in place of Frank Baumann, Aaron Hunt and Hugo Almeida.
Cruel own goal starts the rot
Considering this was in fact no more than a friendly, the game got off to quite a pacy and intensive start with tackles flying in at every opportunity. The ‘Royal-Blues’ moved the ball around better but, just like Werder Bremen, failed to get a clear shot in on goal in the first half hour. The first shot in anger came from Rafinha who tested Tim Wiese but the Werder keeper was down quickly to turn the effort away at his near post (32’).Twon minutes later though, the Werder keeper was left picking the ball out of the back of his net. Ex-Bremen player Mladen Krstajic drove a shot across the box which tempted both Wiese and Naldo to clear but indecision on both sides led to an uncontrolled intervention by the Brazilian who turned the ball into his own net.
Rafinha on the spot
Werder went into the break a goal down but came out looking more lively and prepared for the second period. Max Kruse showed the first signs of life from Thomas Schaff’s men with a shot from distance after a pass from Jurica Vranjes (56’). Just when Werder appeared to be gaining the upper hand, Vranjes was judged to have handled the ball in his own penalty area and the referee awarded Schalke a spot kick. Rafinha took on the responsibility and hammered home past substitute keeper Nico Pellatz to make it 2:0.
Andreasen gives Green-Whites hope
The game now looked to be a foregone conclusion with Schalke clearly in the driving seat but the Green-Whites took on a never say die attitude, despite the upheaval of a glut of substitutions, and were back in the tie in the 67th minute when Leon Andreasen let a spinning shot fly from distance which was horribly misjudged by Schalke keeper Fährmann who allowed the ball to go right through him – 1:2 (67’).
For all their efforts, there was no way through for a Bremen side in desperate search of an equaliser and it was Schalke who subsequently looked more likely to score with both Zé Roberto II (68’) and Özil (84’) missing good openings. Werder’s last hurrah came from a powerfully driven free-kick by Hugo Almeida which Färnmann was equal to. Naldo nodded the resulting header just wide of the mark and the Green-Whites were left having to settle for the runner-up prize.
John Muldoon
