05ers claim friendly 3-1 win over Münster

1. FSV Mainz 05 will depart for their training camp in Tyrol in good spirits after securing a 3-1 friendly win over Preußen Münster on Saturday. Ther 05ers struggled into the first half until Armindo Sieb’s opening goal, which came just after Nadiem Amiri was forced off with a shoulder injury. Bo Henriksen’s side stepped up their game after the break, and goals from Paul Nebel and Karim Onisiwo meant that a late strike from the visitors was nothing more than a consolation.

“The first five minutes were okay, but then we had a really poor 20 minutes. We didn’t press high enough and were too slow to react. We got it together again towards the end of the half because we managed to hold onto the ball better. The second half was really good from us. We’re happy with the boys’ fitness levels too, considering that Münster’s season begins next week and ours is still three weeks away,” said the Mainz head coach after the game, which started in the worst possible way with Amiri’s injury: “He will have an MRI scan next week. Let’s hope it’s nothing serious.”

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Match statistics

1. FSV Mainz 05 3-1 Preußen Münster 

Mainz 05: Zentner (46’ Rieß) - Kohr (61’ Fernandes), Hanche-Olsen (46’ Bell), Leitsch (61’ Dal) - Veratschnig (61’ Da Costa), Amiri (21’ Nebel, 84’ Veratschnig), Krauß, Caci (61’ Barkok) - Lee (46’ Onisiwo), Burkardt (46’ Weiper), Sieb (61’ Gruda)

Preußen Münster: Schenk - ter Horst (61’ D. Schad), Koulis, Frenkert (61’ Paetow), Kirkesov, Mees (61’ Makridis), Hendrix (46’ Bazzoli), Preißinger (46’ Kyerewaa), M. Lorenz (61’ Bouchama), Grodowski (61’ Deters), Batmaz (61’ Amenyido)

Goals: 1-0 Sieb (31’), 2-0 Nebel (73’), 3-0 Onisiwo (74’), 3-1 Makridis (90’)

Attendance at the Bruchwegstadion: 1,937

Referee: Nicolas Winter (assistants: Patrick Kessel, Luca Schlosser)

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Sieb opens the scoring, Amiri’s day ends early

After a disappointing performance against Trier, the 05ers were looking for a more convincing showing against Preußen Münster at the Bruchwegstadion. There were just two minutes on the clock when the game’s first chance fell to Antoni Caci after a cross from Nikolas Veratschnig to the far side of the box, but Johannes Schenk in the Preußen goal was on hand to save the curling shot. The newly-promoted 2. Bundesliga outfit, under the leadership of former Mainz academy coach Sascha Hildmann, set up very compactly, defending tenaciously and looking for chances to attack on the counter. The 05ers survived a somewhat chaotic moment in the 19th minute when Münster were awarded an indirect free-kick inside the Mainz box, before Joshua Mees had the visitors’ best chance a few seconds later, only to fire over Robin Zentner’s goal from close range. Nadiem Amiri meanwhile had initially carried on after falling heavily on his shoulder, but eventually had to be withdrawn for Paul Nebel.

FSV were a little unorganised during that period and Münster had two dangerous efforts that could easily have broken the deadlock. The hosts soon gained more control over the ball though and started to take command of the game, leading to Armindo Sieb’s opening goal after 31 minutes. The Bayern Munich loanee picked up the ball on the right and dribbled past a number of green-and-white shirts, before picking out the far corner with a wonderful left-footed shot. Mainz pressed on for a second goal, and the pacy Veratschnig on the right flank was causing problems for the second-division opponents. More good dribbling, this time from Caci, created the next chance, but Sieb fired just wide of the target. He almost went from goalscorer to provider in the 41st minute, laying the ball off for Burkardt to shoot, but Schenk matched the effort to keep the score at a deserved 1-0 lead at the break.

Quickfire Mainz double

The 05ers made four changes at the start of the second half, but the momentum remained with the home team. New introductions Nelson Weiper and Karim Onisiwo combined nicely for the first chance after the restart, and the Austrian was only inches away from making it 2-0 with his effort from around 12 yards out. Sieb continued to catch the eye, although he didn’t quite catch his shot properly in the 58th minute. As we entered the final half an hour, only Tom Krauß now remained from Henriksen’s original starting line-up.

Fresh legs were adding to the Mainz threat in the second 45, but the finish was still lacking as big chances came and went for Barkok (68’) and Weiper (70’). The ball was in the back of the net just three minutes later though, quickly followed by a third 05er goal. First it was Nebel who got on the scoresheet, finding space with a neat piece of skill before the man returning from his loan at Karlsruhe tucked away the finish. It was quickly followed by a goal from Onisiwo, who slid in to get on the end of Da Costa’s dangerous delivery and make it 3-0. With around ten minutes to go, Nebel made way as a precaution after a collision with Rieß, with Veratschnig allowed to return to the action. Mainz’s clean sheet was annoyingly taken away in the 90th minute, as Charalambos Makridis grabbed a 90th-minute goal for Preußen. A 3-1 win puts FSV in good stead ahead of their upcoming training camp though, with the one-week trip to Tyrol kicking off on Wednesday.