Grasshopper wins in the Intertoto, Basel defeats Young Boys, FC Sion loses to Aarau

Grasshopper in the Intertoto Cup
In the first leg of the final round of the Intertoto Cup (that grants access to the second round of the UEFA Cup) Grasshopper defeated Bulgarian side PFC Chernomorets Burgas 3-0, courtesy of goals by Veroljub Salatic, Gonzalo Zarate and Samel Sabanovic. The match was played in the Letzigrund in front of 1200 fans and Basel ended the first half on a 2-0 score. In the second half many more chances were squandered despite the Bulgarian side raising the quality of their game. The return leg should be no problem for the Swiss side.

Grasshoppers – PFC Chernomorets Burgas 3:0 (2:0)
Letzigrund. – 1200 Spectators – Referee: Ledentu (Fr).
Goals: 21. Salatic 1:0. 41. Zarate 2:0. 79. Sabanovic 3:0.
Grasshoppers: Jakupovic; Voser, Vallori, Smiljanic, Mikari; Colina, Salatic; Touré (84. Zuber), Zarate (46. Rinaldo), Lulic; Bobadilla (63. Sabanovic).
PFC Chernomorets Burgas: Stoyanov; Diankov, Kovachev, Krastev; Traykov, Hyusein (52. Petrov), Karakanov (46. Tsonkov), Trajanov, Dos Santos (79. Lyubenov); Michel, Juvenal.

Basel defeats Young Boys in the opening game

A Summary of the Game (in German)

FC Basel defeated last season’s runners-up Young Boys in the opening game of the Swiss Season, yet Christian Gross’ men were far from being impressive.
The game was largely dominated by the Bernese side who struck the woodworks twice and got an early advantage with new player Eudis.

In the second half, Serbian Marko Perovic equalised with a wonder free-kick, quite against the run of play. And the coincidence is that both goals originate from fouls by Hochstrasser and Ghezal which led to set pieces where Basel’s luck and experience brought the victory home. 3 minutes from the end Huggel scored after goalkeeper Wolfli’s save had prevented the ball from going in.

As I said Basel was far from being impressive, especially new player Abraham who should fill in the empty spot left by Swedish giant Majstorovic. He was caught off his guard on Young Boys’ opening goal and was generally quite shaky in the back.
Midfielders Frei, Gjasula, Stocker and Gelabert couldn’t provide enough assists and interesting passes for Derdiyok, on the other hand wingers Varela and Raimondi were very dangerous and forwards Haeberli and Eudis troubled goalkeeper Costanzo several time.
But once again, the Champions’ Luck has been confirmed.

Young Boys – FC Basel 1-2 (1-0)
19th Eudis, 69th Perovic, 87th Huggel
23,250 spectators. Referee: Busacca
YB: Woelfli; C.Schwegler, Zayatte, Ghezal, Schneider; Yapi, Hochstrasser; Varela, Raimondi; Haeberli (82′Frimpong), Eudis (63′Doumbia).
Basel: Costanzo; Zanni, Abraham, Marque, Hodel; Gelabert (56′Huggel); Frei (56′Perovic), Ergic, Gjasula, Stocker; Derdiyok.

FC Sion loses to Aarau
In yesterday’s second game, ambitious FC Sion was humiliated by underdogs FC Aarau in a game that was all one-way.
Sion’s coach Stielike had admitted that the physical condition of the team wasn’t good enough yet and yesterday confirmed this.
Countless mistakes and the obvious difficulty in acceleration and sprints were sufficient to make the game very hard for Monterrubio’s new team. Sion’s new player only came on in the second half but couldn’t change the score.
At half time it was already 2-0 to Aarau through two goals by Romanian forward Ianu. At the 66th minute Rogerio added a third one and M’Futi managed to spare Sion’s blushes to add a late consolation goal.

Aarau – FC Sion 3-1 (2-0)
10th, 35th Ianu, 66th Rogerio, 91st M’Futi
Aarau: Benito; Menezes, Rapisarda, Page, Elmer; Mutsch (86′Schaub), Burki, Bastida, Nushi; Ianu (72′Tarone), Rogerio (78′Bengondo)
Sion: El-Hadary; Vanczak (45′Monterrubio), Kali, Buehler; Alioui (74′Brellier), Serey Die, Ahoueya; Dominguez (74′M’Futi), Reset, Crettenand; Saborio.