I am not sure if I should laugh or cry at this one: http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/news?slug=reu-europeswissneuchatel Some of the highlights - Swiss club Neuchatel Xamax’s turbulent start under new Chechen owner Bulat Chagaev continued on Friday when goalkeeper Rodrigo Galatto was fired after one game and one week at the club. Possibly unfamiliar with Neuchatel’s artificial pitch, he endured a nightmare debut in the Swiss League at the weekend as they lost 3-0 at home to FC Lucerne. Fans at that game were issued hand-written tickets on pieces of note-paper as the club was unable to print genuine tickets in time following the re-organisation of the administrative department. Wow!
July 23 17:45 Sion ? - ? Young Boys Bern 17:45 Zurich ? - ? Servette July 24 16:00 Basel ? - ? Neuchatel Xamax 16:00 Thun ? - ? Grasshoppers
I caught the second half of the FCZ-Servette match. Great first goal by FCZ, very pretty. It went from 2-0 2-3 in about 8 min. Servette did just enough, but I think that FCZ was the better team overall. A win is a win! 1-2 YB wins away at Sion.
remarkable that Servette still is playing with last year's team as Yartey has not yet a working license and Saleiro was not qualified yet Sion wants a rematch and is waiting a decision from SFL wrt the transfers Xamax fired all his coaching staff tonight as well as Carlao and Binya. In this rhythm, they won't have 11 players available any more within 5 or 6 weeks. I see them less and less finishing the season. I think the chechens will be gone in September and Xamax in debts
Tschagajew also fired chairman Rudakov now. Carlao is staying, tough. He is the only remaining striker in the team
I think that Xamax is going to have a very difficult time staying afloat. I have a feeling that if and it seems more like when, they go down to the DCL, it will take them a while to come back to the ASL.
http://www.worldradio.ch/wrs/news/sw...af.shtml?25680 Very interesting radio report about Xamax. Joaquin Caparros from Spain has the job as trainer.
Andreï Rudakov has been fired as president of Xamax. That is two matches, 5 goals against, 0 for, two losses, 4 coaches and 2 presidents. Not too shabby.
July 30 17:45 Grasshoppers ? - ? Basel 17:45 Lausanne Sports ? - ? Zurich July 31 16:00 Lucerne ? - ? Thun 16:00 Neuchatel Xamax ? - ? Sion 16:00 Young Boys Bern ? - ? Servette The YB - Servette should be interesting. Xamax and Sion should be fun to see if Xamax can get a win against a team that has said that they might not even show up! Who gets fired if Xamax looses this time?
July 30 FT Grasshoppers 2 - 2 Basel FT Lausanne Sports 2 - 1 Zurich July 31 FT Lucerne 0 - 0 Thun FT Neuchatel Xamax 0 - 3 Sion FT Young Boys Bern 1 - 1 Servette Servette gets a point at YB while Xamax looses for the third time. I wonder if the canton of Neuchatel will be fired this time! FCZ continues to play poorly in the league. Axpo Super League 1. Thun 3 +4 7 2. Sion 3 +3 6 3. Basel 3 +2 5 4. YB 3 +1 5 5. Luzern 2 +3 4 6. Servette 3 0 4 7. GC 3 -1 4 8. Lausanne-Sport 2 -1 3 9. Zürich 3 -3 0 10. NE Xamax 3 -8 0
Could someone explain what is going on with Xamax? I haven't really been able to find anything in English, and I'm curious. Basically the new owner is going crazy?
In short words, yes. He purchased the club, promised the world, fired all the local staff, hired a coach who can not coach the team due to license issues, hired another coach, fired the coaches, bought a ton of new players, brought in a new goalie when they had a good one, fired the goalie after one match, fired numerous coaches, etc. It looks like he playing with the team like a "Fantasy Football" coach would. The problem is that this is the real world.
Swiss club Neuchatel Xamax says it has signed former Under-17 World Cup winner Haris Seferovic on a season-long loan from Fiorentina. http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/news?slug=ap-neuchatel-seferovic Seferovic has only played Serie A match. He needs games. Many observers saw him with a bigger upside over ben-Khalifa. The problem is that he is at the most dysfunctional team is the ASL. Why not Servette!
August 6 17:45 Basel ? - ? Sion 17:45 Servette ? - ? Lausanne Sports August 7 16:00 Lucerne ? - ? Young Boys Bern 16:00 Thun ? - ? Neuchatel Xamax 16:00 Zurich ? - ? Grasshoppers The Leman derby should be great! FCZ-GCZ, FCB and Sion, Thun and crazy Xamax, Luzern and YB. This has the makings of a great weekend.
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story/_/id/940002/chagaev-has-xamax-on-road-to-ruin?cc=5901 One more interesting article about Xamax.
Xamax will be able to use Arizmendi and Uche. But dunno what is missing for Seferovic Sion might be able to use the 6 new players in Basel
August 6 FT Basel 3 - 3 Sion FT Servette 4 - 2 Lausanne Sports Over 17k in Geneva. Two very entertaining matches.
August 7 FT Lucerne 1 - 1 Young Boys Bern FT Thun 0 - 0 Neuchatel Xamax FT Zurich 6 - 0 Grasshoppers FCZ with a crushing victory over its city rival. The standings have a very interesting look to them: 1. Luzern 4 +4 8 Thun 4 +4 8 3. Sion 4 +3 7 4. Servette 4 +2 7 5. Basel 4 +2 6 6. YB 4 +1 6 7. GC 4 -7 4 8. Zürich 4 +3 3 9. Lausanne-Sport 4 -4 3 10. NE Xamax 4 -8 1
The crazy world of FC Sion continues: http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/news?slug=ap-cas-sion-transferban CAS says it is unlikely to be able to rule on Sion’s latest appeal, against the Swiss league, before Aug. 31. Sion, which faces Scotland’s Celtic in a Europa League playoff on Aug. 18 and 25, could be left holding players it can neither select nor sell until January if the appeal is lost.
From the Swiss night of Soccer: Credit Suisse Player of the Year : Xherdan Shaqiri. Axpo Player of the Year : Alex Frei. Coach of the Year : Pierluigi Tami. Ref of the Year : Massimo Busacca. Swiss Cup team of the Year Presented by Volkswagen : FC Bienne-Biel. Axpo Fair Player of the Year : Thorsten Fink and Urs Fischer. Credit Suisse Youth Player of the Year : Yann Sommer.
the SFL chair Grimm was dismissed from the Sion case last night because he wanted to severely sanction Sion (have them excluded from SFL?). maybe a provisional arrangement can be found by tonight or tomorrow between Sion and the SFL and the FIFA (transfer ban in winter?) Xamax hope to get another foreigner license with M. Benet becoming youth international. And they would like to sign Giovani dos Santos, Bobadilla or still Keirisson Servette have renewed the contract with Marcos De Azevedo. Good, he can be a great player, but he has to show it more regularly. He is a bit like Antonio Dos Santos at times. Two or three magic moments within 10mins and then not seen for 3 matches...
August 13 17:45 Basel ? - ? Zurich 17:45 Sion ? - ? Lucerne August 14 16:00 Grasshoppers ? - ? Young Boys Bern 16:00 Neuchatel Xamax ? - ? Servette 16:00 Thun ? - ? Lausanne Sports Second Romandie derby in as many weeks. I have an unsettled feeling about this one though. I hope that I am wrong. FCB-FCZ should be a good one as well.