FC St. Pauli

FC ST. PAULI 6-2 TIANJIN TEDA (HT 3-2)

Lienen picked a very young side for the first warm-up game of the day at the Ayala Polo Club. In Marc Hornschuh, who led the team out as captain, and Christopher Avevor, only two players were older than 22. The Tianjin Teda lineup included John Obi Mikel, who joined the club from Chelsea last week.

The opening quarter of an hour was noteworthy only for two half chances for Tianjin through Bei Yuefeng and Mai Tiajing. St. Pauli gradually found their way into the game and took the lead in the 18^th minute after a fine move started by Hornschuh that saw Yi-Young Park send Nico Empen on his way. Instead of going for goal himself, the striker squared the ball for Jan-Marc Schneider to slot home. It was one-way traffic after that and within ten minutes it was already 3-0. Richard Neudecker doubled the advantage with an acrobatic volley from Empen's cross on 24. And three minutes later Empen added to his two assists with a goal of his own, hammering a shot into the top-left corner after playing a one-two with Schneider.

Unfortunately, Lienen's side lost their way in the ensuing period, allowing Tianjin to pull two goals back through Mikel's header from a free-kick after 36 minutes and a Wang Dong penalty two minutes later. The Chinese outfit then squandered two excellent opportunities to restore parity before the break.

Lienen made one change at half-time, introducing Tim-Julian Pahl for Park. Looking much stronger at the back than in the closing stages of the first half, the Boys in Brown created chances to increase their advantage. Christopher Avevor sent a header off target from a corner on 48 minutes, and a 20-metre effort by Empen was only parried by Tianjin keeper Du Jia, but Jeremy Dudziak was unable to convert the rebound.

Joel Keller did hit the target on 57, however, directing a glancing header into the far corner from a Dennis Rosin free-kick to make it 4-2. After Pahl was forced off with a cut knee sustained in a heavy challenge, Lienen's side restored their three-goal advantage on 67 following another Rosin free-kick. Hornschuh headed the ball back across goal to Empen, who stooped low to head home unchallenged. The Boys in Brown continued to press and almost added a sixth eight minutes later when Dudziak's header smashed against the post. It was left to Keller to put the seal on an entertaining contest, converting a penalty with aplomb to make it 6-2 seven minutes from time.

FC St. Pauli

Brodersen – Park (Pahl 46' / Choi 63'), Hornschuh, Koglin, Keller – Neudecker, Dudziak (Litka 78'), Avevor, Rosin – Empen, Schneider

Head coach: Ewald Lienen

Tianjin Teda

Jia – Ximing, Dong, Diagne, Mikel, Yuefeng, Tao, Tijiang, Yang, Gudelj, Tong

Head coach: Jaime Pacheco

Goals: 1-0 Schneider (18'), 2-0 Neudecker (24'), 3-0 Empen (27'), 3-1 Mikel (36'), 3-2 Dong (pen. 38'), 4-2 Keller (57'), 5-2 Empen (67'), 6-2 Keller (pen. 83')

Incidents of note: A Tianjin player was shown the red card in the 80^th minute but the game continued 11 against 11.

FC ST. PAULI 2-1 FC BASEL (HT 1-1)

The second friendly of the day saw not only a change of venue but also of the entire starting eleven, as head coach Ewald Lienen went with an experienced lineup to face FC Basel in Marbella.

His team made a bright start to the game, Cenk Sahin dispatching a cross into the middle for Ryo Miyaichi to force a brilliant stop from goalkeeper Germano Vailati with a header just four minutes in.

The Swiss champions soon showed their quality, however, when Renato Steffen capitalised on a momentary lapse in concentration in the St. Pauli rearguard to fire his side into the lead on 13 minutes. And they would have doubled their lead 60 seconds later had Philipp Heerwagen not produced an outstanding save to defuse a long-range effort from Mohamed Elyounoussi.

In a fast-paced, high-intensity contest the Boys in Brown forced a string of corner that were swung into the danger area by Sahin or Miyaichi. One such corner delivered the equaliser in the 33^rd minute, new boy Johannes Flum climbing high to head home from five metres.

Both teams continued to give no quarter, and when St. Pauli failed to clear their lines from a corner a minute before the interval Jean-Pauli Boetius pulled the trigger from range, but Heerwagen was again alert to the danger.

The tempo remained high after the restart. Basel were a constant threat from distance. Iceland international Birkir Bjarnason came closest with an effort from the edge of the penalty area that flew a whisker over the top in the 68^th minute. In contrast, the Boys in Brown sought to play their way into the opposition box. They were denied in their endeavours either because Daniel Buballa drove a shot just the wrong side of the post on 58 or the Basel defence got a foot in at the last moment.

Lienen declined to make the wholesale changes usually associated with warm-up matches and restricted himself to the standard three substitutions during the second half, YiYoung Park, Maurice Litka and Kyoungrok Choi coming on for Jan-Philipp Kalla, Cenk Sahin and Waldemar Sobota.

In the closing stages his team continued to pose a threat from corner kicks and it was no surprise that the winning goal came from a dead ball situation three minutes from the end. A Litka corner from the right flew straight to the head of Sören Gonther, who powered the ball into the far corner.

After the final whistle Lienen expressed his satisfaction with his team's performance, saying: "We were very happy with the attitude. It's important to press the ball aggressively when you don't have possession. The lads put into practice what we've worked on in training."

FC St. Pauli

Heerwagen – Kalla (Park 84'), Sobiech, Gonther, Buballa – Flum, Nehrig, Sahin (Litka 72'), Sobota (Choi 78'), Miyaichi – Thy

Head coach: Ewald Lienen

FC Basel

Vailati (Nikolic 46') – Lang, Suchy (Akanji 61'), Höegh, Petretta – Xhaka (Pickel 72'), Fransson, Steffen (Calla 46'), Elyounoussi (Bjarnason 60'), Boetius (Kutesa 72') – Doumbia (Sporar 46')

Head coach: Urs Fischer

Goals: 0-1 Steffen (13'), 1-1 Flum (33'), 2-1 Gonther (87')

Photo: Witters