Asamoah seals 1-0 win over Basel
26.01.2008
Victory in the final warm-up match before the Bundesliga restart and a superb send-off for Dario Rodriguez in front of a worthy crowd: 39,158 spectators saw Schalke beat Swiss league leaders FC Basel 1-0 at the VELTINS Arena on Friday evening.
Both teams lined up to welcome Rodriguez onto the pitch and thus commence the celebrations in honour of the 33-year-old Uruguayan, and when the game kicked off it seemed as if Ivan Rakitic, in particular, was determined to do well against his former club. With just six minutes gone the Croatia international rifled a first-time effort over the bar. Soon afterwards Gerald Asamoah and Peter Lovenkrands unleashed a promising counterthrust after Schalke had defended a corner, but the Dane's square ball into the Basel penalty box was turned behind by Huggel.
After this lively start it was to be a while before either goal was threatened again. With 25 minutes gone Rakitic's shot from distance flew past the left-hand upright, while seven minutes later a Bordon free-kick was snapped up by Basel keeper Franco Costanzo. Basel then registered their first effort on goal when Ivan Ergic forced Manuel Neuer to fist the ball away with a 25 metre cracker. And having stolen the ball from Jermaine Jones, Ergic then failed to see two better placed team mates, his attempted dribble through the midfield coming to nought on the edge of the penalty area.
The first-half action reached its peak just before the interval. On 41 Asamoah hit the right-hand post from 14 metres after being put in by Jones. Basel's attempted clearance landed at the feet of Halil Altintop, but his effort was saved by Costanzo. But there was nothing the Basel custodian could do on a minute before the break. Fabian Ernst unhinged the visitors' offside trap with a clever pass, Asamoah was through and bent the ball into the right-hand corner to give Schalke the lead.
At half-time Schalke boss Slomka slipped into the role of ice hockey coach and exchanged his entire front line. This allowed Vicente Sanchez to make his debut, and the Uruguayan immediately showed his potential. Nevertheless, it was to be another quarter of an hour before the next goalscoring opportunity arrived. It was fashioned by Soren Larsen, who won the ball for himself and unleashed a shot from 14 metres, but Costanzo was down quickly to make the save.
The Royal Blues went close to doubling their lead several times in the following ten minutes. On 63 Heiko Westermann beat the Basel keeper to the ball from a Rakitic corner, only to steer it wide of the right-hand upright. Next up was a co-production made in Uruguay: Gustavo Varela chested down Sanchez's cross to Carlos Grossmüller, whose first-time blockbuster was turned away by Costanzo. Larsen was first to the rebound, but his shot from a narrow angle was deflected for a corner by Majstorovic. Moments later Larsen put Varela clean through on goal, only to see the Uruguay international denied by the Basel keeper.
The atmosphere reached its climax when Rodriguez entered the field of play for the final time in a Schalke shirt to a storm of applause. Marcelo Bordon immediately handed his team mate the captain's armband, and Sanchez almost gave him a parting gift in the shape of a goal, but his low shot was once again gathered by Costanzo.
It was the Swiss side who finished the strongest, however. With 12 minutes left Carlitos fired in a shot with no backlift, forcing Neuer to tip the ball over the crossbar. And just before the end Ergic played Eduardo clear, but Neuer forced the striker wide before saving the resulting shot from a extremely narrow angle to clinch a deserved victory for Schalke.
Schalke: Neuer - Rafinha (Kuranyi 83'), Bordon, Krstajic (Rodriguez 74'), Westermann (Höwedes 64') - Ernst (Kobiashvili 64'), Jones (Grossmüller 64') - Rakitic (Ze Roberto 64') - Asamoah (Varela 46'), Altintop (Larsen 46'), Lovenkrands (Sanchez 46')
Basel: Costanzo - Zanni (Cabral 46'), Majstorovic, Huggel (Hodel 64'), Nakata (Gunduz 73') - Frei (Ferati 46'), Ergic - Carlitos, Caicedo, Degen - Derdiyok (Eduardo 46')
Referee: Margenberg (Wermelskirchen)
Goal: 1-0 Asamoah (44')
Attendance: 39,158
Yellow card: Caicedo
