Schalke vs Hertha part two: Resilience is universal
By Josh Sippie
FC Schalke weathered a wild ride at home against Hertha Berlin in the DFB-Pokal. Let’s hope this resilience translates across competitions.
If you watched the 0-0 draw against Hertha Berlin in the Bundesliga, you might not have expected too wild of a wide when Schalke hosted Hertha just a few days later in the DFB-Pokal. And you would have been dead wrong.
David Wagner’s side put up one hell of a show, pulling a resurrection-esque scenario where they rose from the depths of despair into eternal glory. Or something like that.
With the rotation in place, Die Knappen still looked capable of ensuring a progression in the competition, but being down 2-0 at the 75th minute, it’s safe to say the doubt had settled in. Schalke are not known for scoring a lot of goals, particularly in quick succession, and it would require a miracle.
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Daniel Caligiuri started that miracle. The venerable Italian who will forever be capable of absolutely anything. His goal poured belief back into the Veltins and who else but Amine Harit capitalized on the atmosphere to bring the match back level, 2-2.
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But a draw wasn’t only impossible because of the rules of the competition, but it wouldn’t have been enough even if it were. We’ve drawn before. What the Royal Blues needed was a complete overturn of misfortune, especially following the 5-0 to Bayern and the 0-0 to Hertha.
We needed goals, and a third would have to come.
After a borderline circus erupted on the pitch following Jordan Torunarigha‘s dismissal, Benito Raman made a tremendous run and gave us that third goal just five minutes before the end of extra time. It was the winning goal, the one to send the Blues home happy.
The word “Hallelujah” sneaks to mind, but more than that, the word “Continuation.” This was one hell of a comeback, it happened outside of the Bundesliga, yet still against Bundesliga opposition, and it was Harit and Raman and Caligiuri, AKA the usual suspects, who saw us through. So even though this did happen in the DFB-Pokal Cup, it had Bundesliga written all over it. It’s the kind of thing that can spark a side into more confidence.
Next. Schalke vs Hertha Player Ratings. dark
Scoring more goals. That’s what we want from this side. Well, three of our biggest goal threats secured our progression in the Cup competition. All I’m saying is if this was a turning point in the latter part of the season, it wouldn’t be all that surprising.