Transfer Updates (Senderos, Inler etc.) and Third Matchday of the Super League

Transfer Updates
Newcastle United has offered 5 Million Euros for Swiss International and Arsenal defender Philippe Senderos according to the Mail on Sunday. Newcastle’s alternative to the tall Genevan is Nicolas Burdisso, from Inter Milan. This bid comes at a bad time for Arsenal who have already lost many important players and have Kolo Touré struggling with malaria. Newcastle coach Keegan is looking for some defenders to strengthen the shaky Magpie line in the coming season and Senderos might be the right choice (it would certainly benefit Swiss football since he would be a starter in the Toon).

Both Newcastle United and Arsenal are following Swiss International and Udinese Midfielder Gokhan Inler who has been one of the most surprising transfers of last year’s Serie A. Udinese won’t part with the player that easily and the starting price is fixed at 6,3 Million Euros (certainly not a trifle!). Will Udinese let their best player leave right before a challenging Serie A season and join one of the two Premier League giants or will he stay in a small ambitious club and become it’s chief protagonist?

Last but not least, Napoli and Brescia are working on an exchange involving the latter’s Swiss midfielder Fabrizio Zambrella (one of the best players of the Serie B, the Italian Second League) and Samuele Della Bona who would leave the Neapolitan team.

Grasshopper has made it! 2nd round of the UEFA Cup for the Zurich side
Grasshopper Zurich qualified for the second round of the UEFA Cup after defeating Bulgarian team Chernomorets Burgas on a 4-0 aggregate score. Latour’s team won 1-0 in yesterday’s return game courtesy of a 53rd minute goal by Bobadilla. The Second Qualifying Round of the UEFA Cup will take place on the 14th and 28th of August where Young Boys, FC Zurich and hopefully Bellinzona and Vaduz (if these two qualify from the first round) will also be involved.

Third Matchday of the Swiss League
Two games were played yesterday, two more will be played today and Grasshopper-Sion will be Wednesday’s fixture.

FC Luzern – Neuchatel Xamax 0-1 (0-0)
Allmend, 5874 spectators. Referee: Busacca
0-1 84th Rossi
FC Luzern: Zibung; E.Zverotic (54′Ch.Lambert), Veskovac, Seoane, C.Lustenberger; Renggli, Wiss; Ferreira, Chiumiento (86′Paquito), Mesbah (81′Schirinzi); Ravasi.
Neuchatel Xamax: G.Faivre; Nuzzolo, Furios, Besle, Edjenguele; Bah, Chihab, Rossi (90′Rak), Taljevic (64′Niçoise); Szlykowicz, Brown (64′Joao Paulo).

The transfer of Lustrinelli to Bellinzona appears to have been a serious loss to Luzern. The team coached by Ciriaco Sforza has lost all three games and is now miserably at the bottom of the table. Neuchatel Xamax wins a second away game in a row thanks to a late strike by Argentinian striker Rossi.

FC Basel – AC Bellinzona 2-0 (1-0)
St. Jakob Park, 19,829 spectators. Referee: Wermelinger.
1-0 8th Chipperfield, 2-0 75th Ergic
FC Basel: Costanzo; Zanni, Abraham, Marque, Safari; Huggel, Carlitos, Ergic (82′Gelabert), Chipperfield (46′Gjasula); Perovic (70′Stocker), Derdiyok.
AC Bellinzona: Gritti; Miccolis, Mangiarratti, La Rocca, Bernardet; Sermeter, Mehmeti (63′Di Zenzo), Rivera, Wahab (85′Conti); Neri (78′Roux), Lustrinelli.

Season favourites FC Basel defeated Bellinzona in a remake of last year’s Swiss Cup and centred a third win in three games. Despite the score and the results Basel fails to impress upfront, squandering many chances: certainly not a good sign before the 2nd Round Qualifier in the Champions’ League against Goteborg.

UPDATED SECTION

FC Aarau – FC Zurich 2-1 (1-0)
Bruegglifeld, 9250 Spectators. Referee: Bertolini.
1-0 30th Burki, 1-1 58th Alphonse, 2-1 75th Bengondo
FC Aarau: Benito; Menezes, Rapisarda, Page, Elmer; Mutsch (88′Schaub), Burki, Bastida, Nushi; Rogerio (70′Bengondo), Ianu (80′Tarone).
FC Zurich: Leoni; Lampi, Stahel, Rochat, Stucki (77′Mehmedi); Aegerter, Tico (46′Alphonse); Nikci (84′Ladner), Abdi, Djuric; Hassli.

My predictions are getting hammered here. FC Aarau won a third game in a row and currently top the standings above FC Basel through goal difference. The team coached by Komornicki impresses once more with a solid win over ambitious FC Zurich. The winner was scored by Bengondo at the 75th minute; the Cameroon player had only been on the pitch for 5 minutes!

Young Boys – FC Vaduz 0-0
Stade de Suisse, 12,665 spectators. Referee: Petignat. RED CARD: Varela (40th)
Young Boys: Woelfli; C.Schwegler (76′Zayatte), Portillo, Ghezal, Schneider; Hochstrasser; Varela/53′, Baykal (70′Yapi), Raimondi (70′Bastians); Haeberli; Eudis.
FC Vaduz: Sommer; Ritzberger, Iten, Dzombic, Cerrone; M.Polverino; Fischer (85′D.Bellon), Mea, Fejzulahi; Rivaldo Barbosa (82′Sutter); Gaspar.

A dull draw for the two teams. Young Boys fails to impress, after the transfer of Yakin to Qatar the team seems to lack the quality to thwart FC Basel. A second place this year appears to be utopia. Vaduz is now on 4 points and is probably looking forward to its UEFA Cup second leg clash with Mostar.