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FC Bayern Munich vs FC Schalke 04
Bayern vs. Schalke
FC Bayern Munich vs Schalke 04 – DFB Pokal Semi-Final Preview
For the second straight season, FC Bayern Munich and Schalke 04 will meet in the DFB Pokal semi-final, with this battle taking place in Munich after Bayern’s 1-0 extra time win in Gelsenkirchen last season. ESPN Deportes will air the match live beginning at 2:30 p.m. Eastern while ESPN3.com will also stream the match live. For those without access to either, there should be plenty of streaming options available, as the match will air live on free TV in Germany. By game time, I will have returned to Bayern Offside World Headquarters, (no more airport writing and roadside *bucks match-watching for me!) and I plan to celebrate with a full live blog. Look for it beginning about a half an hour before the match.
Stumbles and Injuries
Schalke has continued their season long stumble without quite falling in recent weeks. Though their draw in the Champions League in Valencia was an achievement of sorts (the match looked like it should have been 2-0 or 3-0 to Valencia in the first half), they’ve hung on by a thread in the Bundesliga. But in this year’s Bundesliga, there’s no shortage of incompetence so Schalke’s underachievement appears rather mild. It won’t feel mild however, when their board looks forward to a season without the revenue of a European competition.
It’s not like Felix Magath doesn’t have plenty of warm bodies around, but he doesn’t have too many effective ones. He’s got to major injury concerns going into this one. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar injured his knee in training Tuesday, and it appears he’ll be out of action in this one. Magath could use Edu or Mario Gavranovic in his place, with the wild card being newly acquired Angelos Charisteas. Jefferson Farfan, probably the only player capable of consistently feeding Schalke’s talent up front trained fully on Monday and will probably be ready to go after missing the weekend draw vs. Nürnberg. Sergio Escudero, handed his first Bundesliga start at left back last week, is less certain. If he can’t go, Lukas Schmitz pops back into the lineup. That would be a bonus for Bayern, because Schmitz has been pretty bad all season and will definitely need help against Arjen Robben.
Inevitably, the storyline of the match is going to be about the keepers, and the endless speculation about what’s happening with their contracts. But I dare say that the more important factor in the on-field battle will be to see if Bayern can thwart Peer Kluge in the midfield. In the prior match between the teams this season, Kluge matched up mainly with Mark van Bommel and was the clear victor in that battle. If Bayern can bottle up Kluge inside and Farfan outside, there simply won’t be many touches for Raul and whoever joins him up front to make something happen.
Win What is Winnable
On the Bayern side of the ball, Louis van Gaal has shown a preference for starting a bit of a “B” lineup in the Pokal. But at the semi-final stage a season ago, he essentially did start his first choice lineup. Here, he has a perfect opportunity to work Toni Kroos back into the rotation by giving him the start, putting Luiz Gustavo at LB to contain Farfan. But don’t expect him to do that-the early word is that Gustavo is favored to get the start in midfield alongside Schweinstieger, with Breno earning the start at CB next to Tymoshchuk, forcing Badstuber to the bench.
I frankly don’t see Schalke trying to play the pressure game that has been so effective against Bayern this season. To that end, I have the sense this match is going to start out as the polar opposite of Saturday’s league match-no one’s going to feel like 22 guys were shot out of a cannon at the start of this one. When Bastian Schweinstieger isn’t forced to become a human bathyscaph as he was against Dortmund, we can expect some actual link-ups in a threatening part of the pitch.
Stat Lines
*Schalke has not scored more than 1 goal in a match in any competition since December 7.
*Arjen Robben’s match-winning goal in last season’s DFB Pokal semi-final was the only goal Schalke surrendered in the entire competition.
*The last DFB Pokal semi-final to occur in the Allianz Arena was on March 19, 2008, when Bayern defeated Felix Magath’s VfL Wolfsburg 2-0. Only 3 members of the Bayern starting 11 that day (Altintop, Klose, Ribery) remain with the club and Ribery is the only one expected to start in the 2011 edition.
Prediction
I frankly don’t think there’s going to be a psychological hangover for Bayern in this one. Despite the fact that Schalke has played well in Munich over the past few years, I can’t see where the goals are going to come from for them. Expect another Bayern-Schalke played close to the vest, but tipping ever so slightly in Munich’s favor..
FC Bayern Munich 2:1 Schalke 04
2 comments:
schalke forever!! Ruhrpott holt den Pott!! Ruhrpott bring back the Cup Oh Yeah!!
I put money on Schalke and won 50 euros... not much, but I am happy! :)
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