Schalke win indoor tournament in Oldenburg
31.12.2009
The Royal Blues began their preparations for the second half of the Bundesliga season on Wednesday, with one group of players taking to the training ground in Gelsenkirchen and another travelling to Oldenburg, where they secured first place in a five-a-side tournament.
Felix Magath took a 14-man squad with him to Oldenburg, including Kevin Kuranyi and Germany internationals Heiko Westermann and Manuel Neuer. The players spent lots of time with the fans in the breaks between their four matches, giving scores of autographs before going on to win the final against a Bremen Select XI by two goals to nil. Kuranyi and Westermann got the goals, the latter with Schalke a man down. 
"That was a nice success because we were determined to win the tournament", said Kuranyi afterwards. "Now the aim is to prepare well for the second half of the season in Spain next week. There's not a lot of time until our first game, but we want to do the best we can."
In the opening match against Vitesse Arnhem the Royal Blues took some time to adjust to playing indoors. The Eredivisie side began much brighter and took a two-goal lead within six minutes thanks to strikes from Alexander Büttner and Wiljan Pluim.
After the break, however, Schalke reaped the benefits of their pressing game against a Dutch outfit who had brought just eight players with them. Heiko Westermann halved the deficit and Benedikt Höwedes levelled after Lewis Holtby had played a neat pass off the boards.
Moments later new boy Tore Reginiussen broke clear down the flank with a clever feint to give Schalke the lead with his first goal for the club before Halil Altintop latched on to a long pass from the other new signing, Bogdan Müller, to make it 4-2.
"We struggled to begin with on an unaccustomed surface. It was if we had to clear our lungs first", said captain Heiko Westermann after the final whistle. "Obviously there's a fun aspect, too, but when we turn up to play, we want to win as well."
A win was not what they got in their second group game against VfB Oldenburg, however. Again they found themselves two goals down at half-time, and again they went all out to turn the game round in the second. But after a string of missed chances, the home side went three up when Davor Celic converted a free-kick. And though Jan Moravek pulled one back almost immediately, the Royal Blues did not find the net again again until Christoph Moritz struck with a fine long-range effort in the dying seconds. The 3-2 defeat meant a reunion for Felix Magath and assistant coaches Seppo Eichkorn and Bernd Hollerbach with their former club VfL Wolfsburg in the semi-final.
And this time Schalke were wide awake. Christoph Moritz carried on where he left off against Oldenburg by opening the scoring after just 40 seconds after Kuranyi's shot had been blocked. And in the eighth minute Lewis Holtby added a second on the break from a Vicente Sanchez pass. But on the stroke of half-time Andrea Barzagli reduced the deficit after a misplaced pass by Kuranyi. In the second half the Royal Blues missed several opportunities to extend their lead but their fighting spirit and a number of saves by Manuel Neuer helped them see the game out. The win saw them through to the final, where they comfortably defeated a Bremen Select XI by two goals to nil.
Group matches
Schalke (0) 4-2 (2) Vitesse Arnhem
Goals: 0-1 Büttner (2'), 0-2 Pluim (6'), 1-2 Westermann (14'), 2-2 Höwedes (17'), 3-2 Reginiussen (18'), 4-2 Halil Altintop (19')
Schalke 04 (0) 2-3 (2) VfB Oldenburg
Goals: 0-1 Isailovic (7'), 0-2 Zmijak (10'), 0-3 Celic (14'), 1:3 Moravek (15'), 2-3 Moritz (20')
Semi-final
Schalke (2) 2-1 (1) VfL Wolfsburg
Goals: 1-0 Moritz (1'), 2-0 Holtby (8'), 2-1 Barzagli (10')
Final
Schalke (1) 2-0 (0) Bremen Select XI
Goals: 1-0 Kuranyi (8'), 2-0 Westermann (14')
The Schalke squad in Oldenburg: Neuer, Amsif - Höwedes, Reginiussen, Schmitz, Westermann, Zambrano - Altintop, Holtby, Kuranyi, Moravek, Moritz, Müller, Sanchez
