FC St. Pauli needed extra time, only then was FC Schalke 04’s resistance broken – the “Kiez-Kicker” are in the DFB Cup round of 16 after a hard-fought 2-1 win on Tuesday evening (October 31, 2023).
The Paulians went into the game favored as the second division leaders, Schalke is languishing in relegation place 16 after relegation from the Bundesliga despite the recent 3-2 win against Hannover and doesn’t even have half as many points as the Kiez club Account. Both teams began the cup duel accordingly: The “Royal Blues” acted very passively, retreated far back and left the midfield to FC St. Pauli.
To the live ticker: FC St. Pauli – FC Schalke 04 arrow right 2nd round arrow right
But apart from a clear preponderance of ball possession, nothing came of it at first because the visitors’ defense, including goalkeeper Ralf Fährmann, acted very concentrated and attentive. A set piece then even tipped the momentum in Schalke’s favor: In the 16th minute, Tobias Mohr hit a free kick from half-right midfield with a lot of cutting into the penalty area, where the advanced defense chief Marcin Kamiński threw himself vehemently into the header duel and that led to this Scored a surprising 1-0 at this point.
This lead played into the guests’ hands, who were focused on avoiding mistakes; they then positioned themselves even deeper and largely sealed off their penalty area. St. Pauli had a very difficult time, seemed pretty unimaginative and acted with little speed and no element of surprise.
Schalke’s ferryman saves against Zoller
It only became really dangerous again in the 41st minute, but that’s when it really happened: Simon Zoller, who had been almost invisible until then, came free to head the ball from six meters after a cross from Marcel Hartel, but didn’t place it optimally, so Fährmann had a brilliant one Reaction could still prevent the equalizer.
Seconds earlier, Schalke had suffered a setback: center forward Simon Terodde had suffered a nasty injury in the early stages, but then fought through the pain until the 40th minute before he had to be replaced by Sebastian Polter.
St. Pauli coach Hürzeler switches to dual leadership
St. Pauli also changed their attacking line-up in the second half, with coach Fabian Hürzeler switching to dual leadership. This quickly paid off, the pressure and determination increased significantly and the “Royal Blues” started to flounder. In the 49th minute, Connor Metcalfe had the chance to make it 1-1, but Fährmann directed his shot just over the crossbar.
Shortly afterwards, the strong keeper had no chance: Schalke defender Derry Murkin received a shot from Jackson Irvine, and Hartel confidently converted the penalty to make it 1-1 (56th).
Pauli presses, Schalke defends
After that the game became even more one-sided. Pauli was on the accelerator, Karel Geraets’ team barely managed to relieve the pressure, but held on with all their might. Fährmann’s only mistake in the 92nd minute almost gave the hosts the lead, but the goalkeeper then saved his own pass and forced St. Pauli into extra time.
But then the wear and tear of the long defensive battle became noticeable without much relief: In the 102nd minute, Johannes Eggestein headed the Paulians into the well-deserved lead after a free kick from Hartel from the left half of the field.
After that, the “Knappen” were no longer able to turn the switch towards catching up; in the second half of extra time, St. Pauli was closer to 3-1 than the guests were to equalizing. It wasn’t until the 121st minute that Polter had another chance to head the ball, but he didn’t get enough pressure behind the ball.
“We didn’t go wild”
Pauli coach Hürzeler then praised: “What was very good: we didn’t get wild even after falling behind, but continued to follow our plan. Overall, I can only give the team a huge compliment.”
Schalke striker Polter was annoyed: “We conceded two goals from set pieces, we can definitely improve on that. We didn’t have enough moments to relieve the burden. But we are in a good process of tackling things with our new coach We definitely fought back until the final whistle.”
Schalke has to go to Nuremberg
Schalke will now continue on Saturday (November 4th, 2023) at 1 p.m. at 1. FC Nürnberg. FC St. Pauli is challenged to face SV Elversberg the evening before at 6:30 p.m.
