Florida Cup: S04 lose to Atletico Mineiro

In the second game of the Florida Cup, Schalke did not get the result they wanted, being beaten 3-0 by Brazilian side Atletico Mineiro at the Lockhart Stadium in Fort Lauderdale. It was a hard one to take for the Royal Blues, as Geis passed up the opportunity to score from the penalty spot at 1-0.

Wednesday evening’s match marked an important night for Alessandro Schöpf, who made his debut in the Royal Blue of Schalke. Unfortunately, he did not share the success of his teammates in the previous Florida Cup match, who defeated Fort Lauderdale Strikers 2-0. Kick-off was overseen by Lincoln, a Brazilian former player of both Atletico and Schalke.

The celebrations came early in the game, but unfortunately for Schalke, they were from the players and fans of Atletico. The first corner of the game bore its first opportunity, which Atletico’s Leonardo Silva took full advantage of, heading his side 1-0 up inside ten minutes. Shortly after this, Schalke had a few good opportunities to equalise. Choupo-Moting tested Victor in the 12th minute, and the keeper’s parry went straight into the path of Caicara who rifled a shot against the post. This double chance was one of Schalke’s best in the game. The next chance for the Royal Blues came after 38 minutes, when Leon Goretzka’s header went just wide of the mark.

Schalke: Fährmann (46‘ Nübel) - Caicara (46‘ Riether), Matip (75‘ Friedrich), Neustädter (75‘ Kehrer), Aogo (46‘ Kolasinac) - Hojbjerg (46‘ Geis), Goretzka - Schöpf (72’ Sam), Meyer (46’ Belhanda), Choupo-Moting (46’ Sane) - Huntelaar (46’ Di Santo)
Mineiro: Victor - Rocha (65’ Datolo), Silva (65’ Erazo), Jemerson, Santos - Donizete (65’ Carlos), Carioca, Augusto (46’ Candido), Luan - Ribeiro (46’ Patric), Pratto (65’ Hyuri)
Goals: 0-1 Silva (8’), 0-2 Patric (81’), 0-3 Candido (83’)
Referee: Unkel
Attendance: 2504

At half time, André Breitenreiter called upon Sané among others to bring Schalke level. Just after the interval, it looked as if he might have answered the coach’s prayers, but he struck his shot following a corner well over the bar. Schalke continued to search for the equaliser, but struggled to break down the many defenders of Atletico. In the 79th minute,Johannes Geis was presented with a glorious opportunity to bring his team level after the referee awarded an arguably dubious penalty for handball. Victor was on hand to save the Brazilians, however, as he saved the initial attempt and then watched Geis’ rebound fly over his goal.

Atletico then turned it on, as almost directly from the penalty miss, they ran up the pitch and doubled their lead. The ball fell out wide to Patric who dribbled into the box and then chipped Nübel in style. Just one minute later, Atletico were pressing again, and Lucas Candido, from distance, fired the ball right in the top corner, out of the keeper’s reach. All too soon, it was all over for Schalke.

"We tried to put them under pressure and not allow them anywhere near our goal. Unfortunately we didn’t score our penalty," said coach Breitenreiter.

Overall, the fans watched an end-to-end match with lots of attacking football. The winner of the competition will be announced on Wednesday next week after the last two fixtures. The team with the most points will win, decided on goal difference if the best teams are level.