round 4 - match report

Royal Blues ko'd by late goal in Mainz

Schalke's cup exit could hardly have been scripted any worse. A late Mainz strike from Bancé in the 88th minute left the Royal Blues too little time to respond. And when referee Dr. Felix ended this quarter-final tie on 92 minutes, the stark fact was that the favourites had failed to convert their superiority into goals, allowing the underdogs to seize their opportunity late on.
 
"We can be brief", a disappointed Fred Rutten said. "We put in a poor performance today." Yet it had all started so well, with Schalke soon taking control of the proceedings. Mainz, second in the second division, were content to draw up a defensive line around their own penalty area, mustering just a few counterattacks that the Royal Blues snuffed out early. What Schalke lacked was the key to unlock the Mainz defence. Rutten said: "We didn't do enough to get forward from open play and we created too few chances against a well-organised Mainz side."

The Dutchman had to do without Benedikt Höwedes (back) and Gerald Asamoah (suspended), amongst others. At half-time he introduced Halil Altintop for Kevin Kuranyi in attack, and later Ivan Rakitic for Orlando Engelaar in midfield. "I wasn't happy with Kevin's display today", he said, "or with Orlando's. That's why I made the changes."

His side continued to struggle, however, which was largely due to some extremely tight marking by the home side. "We were very mobile and closed down the space well", said an ecstatic Jörn Andersen after guiding Mainz to their first cup semi-final. "Schalke are a top side with lots of quality. But we restricted them to just a few opportunities. Our aim was to keep it at 0-0 for as long as possible and wait for our chance", he said.

It came just as the game was poised to enter extra-time. And once Aristide Bancé had given Mainz the lead, there was hardly any time left for Schalke to ward off the impending defeat. "It's been a very painful evening. It hurts", said Rutten, who now has to lift his side for this Friday evening, when FC Cologne are the guests at the VELTINS Arena. "The players will need to have put this defeat behind them by then", he added. "That's the reality."
 
Mainz: Wache - Hoogland, Bungert, Noveski, Pekovic - Heller, Karhan, Feulner (Neustädter 75'), Buckley (Soto 66') - Bance, Baljak (Svensson 90')
Schalke: Neuer - Rafinha, Bordon, Krstajic, Kobiashvili - Westermann, Jones, Engelaar (Rakitic 64') - Farfan, Kuranyi (Altintop 46'), Sanchez
Referee: Brych (Munich)
Goal: 1-0 Bancé (88')
Attendance: 20,300 (sold out)
Yellow cards: Karhan