Kallstrom ended up at Djurgårdens IF. It was the club of his youth. One of the issues in their demise has been the loss of their own stadium, Hardturm. There are many GCZ fans that will not go to the Letzigrund, it is still seen as enemy territory. Blick had a good article on this subject today. To summarize - lots of selling better players, Caio is the only one left who is from the good teams. The make-up is full of too many youth, etc.
I agree completely. Other than the Swiss Cup, there is little to keep Basel motivated. I expect to see a lot of matches like the one at Thun. Luzern vs YB for the 2nd CL spot will be much more interesting than the RSL championship. They have the money, Sion is in a valley that during the winter months is really hard to grow grass in. I hope they are, I still wish the 9th place team went into a playoff with the 2nd place team from the BCL. Something to get a fire under the team.
18 Feb Luzern - Thun YB - FCSG 19 Feb Basel - LS Vaduz - Lugano GCZ - Sion I do not see LS malaise ending against Basel. GCZ vs Sion, that does not bode well for the Hoppers. YB vs FCSG should be interesting. Vaduz vs Lugano could go a long way at the bottom of the table.
18 Feb Luzern - Thun 1-1 YB - FCSG 2-2 Hoarau with another goal. 19 Feb Basel - LS 4-3 LS was up 1-3 then gave up 3 goals. Vaduz - Lugano 1-1 GCZ - Sion 0-1 The 'Hoppers slide continues. Basel 56 YB 39 Sion 35 Luzern 34 FCSG 26 GCZ 22 Lugano 22 Thun 20 LS 19 Vaduz 18 LS is in serious danger. They have not won since 2 October.
Leading Goalscorers: 15 - Guillaume Hoarau YB 12 - Seydou Doumbia Basel 11 - Marco Schneuwly Luzern 11 - Chadrac Akolo Sion 9- Ezgjan Alioski Lugano 9 - Caio GCZ 9 - Marc Janko Basel 9 - Matias Delgado Basel 8 - Reto Ziegler Sion 8 - Francesco Margiotta LS Most assists: 14 - Yoric Ravet YB 8 - Mohamed Elyounoussi Basel 8 - Christian Schneuwly Luzern 8 - Carlitos Sion 8 - Renato Steffen Basel 7 - Matias Delgado Basel Attendance Basel (11) 26,397 YB (11) 17,844 FCSG (10) 11,744 Luzern (11) 10,768 Sion (10) 8.930 Thun (10) 5,314 GCZ (11) 4,736 LS (10) 4,570 Vaduz (11) 3,976 Lugano (10) 3,683
Lots of speculation about the future of Basel. There is a strong rumor that the Streller/Frei partnership might be back in Basel with management positions for both. Bernhard Burgener is buying the club and expect changes.
LS can score but stopping the all mighty goal that's a different story. While adding 2 defenders during the transfer window was all good they actually need a good veteran keeper. The guys they have right now are too young.
Strange things still happening at GCZ. Numa Lavanchy has given the captaincy to Manas Dabbur, who is on loan to the club. I wonder the last time a player on loan was named captain. Granted he has a history with the club, but I find this really strange.
More bad news for LS, Francesco Margiotta, the on loan forward from Juventus who had 8 goals and 5 assists is lost for the season. He had surgery yesterday in Italy and will not return to the field for LS.
25 Feb Thun - Vaduz GCZ - YB 26 Feb Basel - Luzern LS - Sion FCSG - Lugano If results go as expected, LS could find themselves at the bottom and GCZ could still be in its free-fall.
Continued speculation about the next Basel manager. Those most often mentioned: Markus Babbel - Luzern manager René Weiler - Anderlecht manager, former Winterthur/FCSG/Schaffhausen/Aarau manager. Marcel Koller - has already stated that he really likes the NT job in Austria. Thorsten Fink - Austria Wien manager. Heiko Vogel - Bayern Munich II Fabio Celestini - I just can not see this one happening. Raphael Wicky - manager of Basel II who are currently in 2nd place in the Promotion League. I would think that he would need more than Promotion League managerial experience for the Basel job.
25 Feb Thun - Vaduz 4-3. Crazy match. Thun went up 2-0, then Vaduz scored three in a row, then Thun scored again, and finally won it on a PK. GCZ - YB 2-3 Lots of yellow cards. The score was 1-3 at the half, and only became 2-3 with an own goal in the 90' off Mvogo. Assale looked very good for YB, two goals. Dabbur had the goal for GCZ, but he has an MRI today and could be out for an extended period of time. 26 Feb Basel - Luzern 3-1 Janko with two goals for the champions. LS - Sion 0-1 A tight affair that saw 4 yellows and 1 red. FCSG - Lugano - 0-1 FCSG still has not really gelled yet. Basel 59 YB 42 Sion 38 Luzern 34 FCSG 26 Lugano 25 Thun 23 GCZ 22 LS 19 Vaduz 18 Things are getting tight at the bottom for Vaduz, LS and GCZ. Sion and YB are still close for the 2nd CL spot, FCSG now finds themselves 8 points behind Luzern for the 2nd Europa League spot.
I think all spots for Europe are sewn up. I don't think Sion is going to catch Young Boys, and I don't think Luzern is going to catch Sion or lose ground to St. Gallen. I think the winner of the Cup will be in a European spot, so it'll go to the 5th place finisher. That's a battle between St. Gallen and Lugano, and Lugano could be in good enough form to grab that spot. The real race is relegation and that's going to play out for the remaining weeks. The next three weeks are key for all three teams. This week, Lausanne play Lugano and GCZ play Luzern. In two weeks, Vaduz face GCZ. In three weeks, Vaduz play Lausanne. Should be really exciting!
The SFL posted a press release that they're doing preliminary investigations into possible changes to the Super League and Challenge League. They've hired an outside consultant to determine if the current setup of both leagues is working. They're not anticipating any drastic changes (playoffs for the championship, 16 team top flight, etc.), but they're looking at changes to make the leagues more appealing to fans and sponsors, while meeting economic obligations. The SFL is not happy with attendance numbers as teams are drawing well below their capacities, and they also have concerns about teams in their top two divisions going bankrupt year after year. According to the SFL, the study should take about 6 months, and it may be determined at that time that no changes need to be made, or they may blow the whole thing up based on what individual owners, players, supporters, and sponsors feel. The first step was changing all the start times for weekend matches: Two matches on Saturday start at 8 pm and three matches start on Sunday at 4 pm. I think we'll see at least one major change to come (probably something simple like a 4-team playoff for the final Europa League spot like in a few other leagues out there).
I agree with much of what you said. The next few weeks may very well determine who will be relegated.
Changes I think might be proposed. I liked the 9th place RSL team in a play-off with the 2nd BCL team. At least it would give Xamax and Servette something to play for. The playoff for the Europa League spot could be interesting, but I am not sure if the fans/managers/owners would get behind that. I know it was unpopular, but going back to the LNA way of halving the points at the winter break at least kept teams involved longer. I also sort of liked the old 12 team fall LNA/LNB. At the winter break, the top 8 in LNA played for the championship, while the bottom 4 and the top 4 from LNB played for promotion/relegation, while the bottom 8 played to stay in the LNB for the following season. Now for something a little more radical, why not combine the RSL and BCL and only play each team 2 times instead of 4.
I, too, would like to see the second place BCL team face off against the ninth place RSL team. The consultant they have hired worked on the formats of the Dutch, Belgian, and Austrian leagues. Each of these leagues has unique, and sometimes convoluted, ways that they operate. The Austrian League will completely change their format, I think, starting in 2019, and it's needlessly complex, but they're adding two more teams. I don't think we'll ever see a 20-team RSL. There aren't 20 viable teams to play in it. Wohlen, Le Mont, Wil, and Chiasso don't have stadiums that meet RSL requirements. Aarau will need to have upgrades done to their stadium to meet RSL requirements. I think we'll see a 12-team league with a first half of 22 games, then the table gets split. Top 6 play for the championship and bottom 6 play to stay up in 10 additional games. Team who finishes top of the bottom half plays a home-and-home against the 4th place team to determine final Europa League spot. Bottom two teams go down to new BCL with 10 or 12 teams. This is similar to what Austria will be doing. It makes it harder on the top team to win the title and keeps things interesting in the middle.
Finally some good news for GCZ. Munas Dabbur had his MRI and it came back as negative. He might be able to play this weekend against FC Luzern. Speaking of Luzern, major news there. David Zibung will not be the starter this Wednesday for the Swiss Cup match. The 33 year old, and 449 match starter will back-up Jonas Omlin, who is 10 years his younger. This is seen by quite a few of evidence that Zibung will loose his starting spot this summer.
Leading Goalscorers: 16 - Guillaume Hoarau YB 12 - Seydou Doumbia Basel 12 - Chadrac Akolo Sion 11 - Marco Schneuwly Luzern 10 - Marc Janko Basel 9- Ezgjan Alioski Lugano 9 - Caio GCZ 9 - Matias Delgado Basel Most assists: 15 - Yoric Ravet YB 9 - Mohamed Elyounoussi Basel 9 - Renato Steffen Basel 8 - Christian Schneuwly Luzern 8 - Carlitos Sion Attendance Basel (12) 26,272 YB (11) 17,844 FCSG (11) 11,852 Luzern (11) 10,768 Sion (10) 8.930 Thun (11) 5,223 GCZ (12) 4,758 LS (11) 4,689 Vaduz (11) 3,976 Lugano (10) 3,683
4 March Lugano - LS YB - Thun 5 March Vaduz - Basel Sion - FCSG Luzern - GCZ Lugano can continue the LS misery. YB needs to recover from the 2nd half disaster against Winterthur. Basel should win, but Sion might get caught. I hope their field is in better shape than it was for the Swiss Cup. Luzern can really put GCZ in a really bad place.
4 March Lugano - LS 2-1 YB - Thun 3-2 5 March Vaduz - Basel 1-1 Sion - FCSG 1-2 Luzern - GCZ 1-1 A few surprises this weekend. I am not sure which was more unlikely, Basel dropping points at Vaduz, or GCZ getting a point? Basel 60 YB 45 Sion 38 Luzern 35 FCSG 29 Lugano 28 Thun 23 GCZ 23 LS 19 Vaduz 19 LS is in danger of dropping into 10th place.
Leading Goalscorers: 16 - Guillaume Hoarau YB 12 - Seydou Doumbia Basel 12 - Chadrac Akolo Sion 11 - Marco Schneuwly Luzern 10 - Marc Janko Basel 10- Ezgjan Alioski Lugano 9 - Caio GCZ 9 - Matias Delgado Basel Most assists: 15 - Yoric Ravet YB 9 - Mohamed Elyounoussi Basel 9 - Renato Steffen Basel 8 - Christian Schneuwly Luzern 8 - Carlitos Sion 8 - Matteo Tosetti Thun Attendance Basel (12) 26,272 YB (12) 17,818 FCSG (11) 11,852 Luzern (12) 10,784 Sion (11) 8.800 Thun (11) 5,223 GCZ (12) 4,758 LS (11) 4,689 Vaduz (12) 4,006 Lugano (11) 3,611
FC Vaduz has fired Giorgio Contini right after their home draw with Basel. Contini had been the manager since 2012, and it looks like Daniel Hasler will be the new manager. Odd timing with GCZ this weekend. That is a match if Vaduz can win will put enormous pressure on GCZ.
It turns out that after the 1-2 loss to Lugano, Fabio Celestini went to Alain Joseph the president of LS and said that after their 13th match without a victory in a row, 11 of them defeats, he would understand that he would need to fire him. In fact it appears that he even asked to be fired. Joseph reiterated his insistence that the club would stay with Celestini even if that led them to relegation.
Contini was not fired. He and the team mutually agreed to terminate his contract. No matter what the result was at the end of the year, Contini was not going to be renewed, so they considered him a lame duck coach. Vaduz have also said that they'll be taking the club in a different direction. Only one or two players with expiring contracts will be renewed after this year. The club has virtually no money to buy players and they get almost no support from the SFL in terms of money since they're not Swiss. Rumors that he might take over at GCZ next season are floating attics.