week 2 - match preview
Kuranyi brace sees Schalke to victory in Dortmund
Two goals from Germany international Kevin Kuranyi saw FC Schalke 04 to their 50th competitive derby win over Borussia Dortmund at the Westfalenstadion on Saturday afternoon.
As expected, coach Ralf Rangnick made just one change to the side that beat Kaiserslautern on the opening day: Gustavo Varela came in for Gerald Asamoah, allowing Ebbe Sand to move back into the attack.
The Royal Blues started the better of the two sides, but despite enjoying the lion’s share of the possession they were unable to fashion any genuine chances. The best of them fell to Varela after he was able to steal the ball from Dede in the Dortmund penalty area, only for Christoph Metzelder to clear the Uruguayan’s cross for a corner.
But the game exploded into life when Dortmund took the lead controversially in the 18th minute. The Schalke defence allowed Ebi Smolarek time and space to collect Florian Kringe’s cross, but in doing so the young Pole set himself up in the style of a volleyball player, knocking the ball down with both forearms before slipping it through the legs of Frank Rost and tapping into the empty net. Unfortunately, the resulting Schalke protests to referee Fandel fell on deaf ears.
After going behind Ralf Rangnick’s men stepped up their attacking efforts and drew level within five minutes. Fabian Ernst swung in a corner from the left which Kevin Kuranyi headed home from five metres to make it 1-1. And Schalke could have gone ahead nine minutes later when Hamit Altintop’s cross was only half-cleared by Dortmund keeper Roman Weidenfeller. The ball fell to Ernst, whose 18-metre drive was blocked by Kringe, but Sand blasted the rebound over the crossbar. The Dane was unlucky soon afterwards, narrowly failing to back-heel a whipped-in ball from Varela towards the Dortmund net.
Schalke also had the first chance of the second half when Sand stepped over Levan Kobiashvili’s cross for Ernst to let fly, but Weidenfeller had no problem saving what was a poorly struck shot. And at the other end of the field Jan Koller’s close-range header was safely defused by Rost.
In the end the 126th competitive derby between the two sides was settled by a solo effort by Kuranyi on 58 minutes. The 23-year-old pounced on Metzelder’s defensive header 25 metres out and took a few steps to the right before unleashing a fierce shot into the bottom left-hand corner of the net from just outside the box. Shortly afterwards the former Stuttgart striker played the ball into the path of the tireless Varela, whose 18-metre effort flew over the bar.
In the ensuing period the Royal Blues controlled the game and it was they who crafted the next goalscoring opportunity on 75 when Christian Poulsen set up Bajramovic, who skipped past one defender only to fire his shot straight into the arms of Weidenfeller. Seconds later the ball was in the Schalke net. The goal was disallowed, however, as Koller had strayed into an offside position from David Odonkor’s cross. Substitute Markus Brzenska had Dortmund’s last chance to equalise, but his shot from the edge of the proved no problem for Rost. Five minutes later the game was over. Schalke had claimed their second win of the season to the delight of the 8,000 travelling fans in the North Stand.
