Mainz win convincingly against St. Gallen

1. FSV Mainz 05 celebrated a successful end to their week-long training camp in Schladming with a 4-1 win against FC St. Gallen on Tuesday afternoon. Dominik Kohr and Lee put the Zerofivers 2-0 up before the break, before Fabian Schubert pulled one back before half time. Andreas-Hanche Olsen and Brajan Gruda extended the lead in the second half.

Bo Svensson gave one new signing a first start in the Zerofiver’s penultimate friendly. Mainz’s final friendly is on Saturday against Burnley at the MEWA ARENA, ahead of the DFB-Pokal game against SV Elversberg (12th August, 15:30 CEST). Tom Krauß made his first appearance in a Mainz shirt but Sepp van den Berg was absent due to a setback in training, and goalkeeper Daniel Batz was not in the squad. The Swiss top-division side have already played their first two games of the season (W1, L1).

The first chance of the game belonged to St. Gallen, as Fabian Schubert sent a shot wide of the target in the fourth minute. The Zerofivers would then take the lead after a skilful finish from Kohr, where he evaded two defenders before chipping the ball over the goalkeeper and into the far corner (8’). Both teams looked to attack often in the opening minutes, making it an exciting game for those watching. 

Lee makes it 2-0

FSV would add to their lead midway through the first half, as Kohr played a pass down the wing to Burgzorg. The Dutchman cut the ball into the centre of the park, where Lee only needed to stretch out a foot to tap it in (22’). The Zerofivers continued to pose a threat, with chances from Onisiwo (29’) and Kohr (36’) coming to nothing. Instead, it was the Swiss side that would go on to net an equaliser from out of nowhere. After a sharp cross into the box from the right, Schubert was able to blast a volley past Zentner from 18 metres out (39’). The Zerofivers nearly restored their two-goal advantage just seconds later, but Lee failed to fully connect with a chipped pass from Danny da Costa (40’). FSV headed into the break with a slim 2-1 lead. 

Several changes, several chances – Gruda scores 

Svensson made several changes at half-time, bringing on 11 new players. Despite a slight drop in intensity, FSV continued to create chances for themselves. Leandro Barreiro had an effort saved by Lukas Watkowiak, who spent five years in the FSV academy from 2012 to 2017 (47’). Weiper would be involved in Mainz’s third goal of the day, as his header was first saved by Watkowiak before Hanche-Olsen tapped in the rebound (55’). St. Gallen continued to search for a way back into the game, and came close in the 60th minute as Albin Krasniqi narrowly missed the target. Betim Fazliji then sent a shot crashing off the bar just five minutes later. FSV also kept creating chances, as Gruda was able to get off a shot after a good solo run, but his effort went just wide of the right post (68’).

Stach had a good chance to make it 4-1 in the closing stages of the match, but placed his shot over the bar (78’). Lasse Rieß did well to deny Krasniqi with just five minutes left to play. The final goal of the game would be scored by Gruda, who got on the end of a pass from substitute Timothé Rupil and netted from a tight angle to cap off a strong attacking performance from the Zerofivers. 

Svensson: “Did well, but also things we need to improve on” 

The head coach was satisfied with the result, saying afterwards: “It wasn’t easy to play on such a soft pitch after all the rain and the long week of training we have behind us, so we lacked a bit of energy at times. We did well in both halves, but there were also things that we need to improve on. It’s good experience for us.” He added that in the first half “we saw several things that we worked on in training.” Ahead of the final 120-minute long friendly against Burnley on Saturday, Svensson promised “more energy and intensity.” For the coach, it’s normal that some of these attributes were lacking after what was an intense week of training. “It will come automatically, and we also need that, because Burnley are a different level,” he said. 

MAINZ 05 - FC ST. GALLEN 4-1

Mainz 05 1st half: Zentner - da Costa, Edimilson, Bell, Leitsch, Caci - Kohr, Krauß, Lee - Burgzorg, Onisiwo

Mainz 05 2nd half: Rieß - Barkok, Hanche-Olsen, Hack, Papela, Mamutovic (81‘ Kraft) - Barreiro, Stach, Gruda - Ajorque, Weiper (72‘ Rupil)

Goals: 1-0 Kohr (8‘), 2-0 Lee (22‘), 2-1 Schubert (39‘), 3-1 Hanche-Olsen (55`), 4-1 Gruda (88‘)

Attendance: 500