In a previous post, I indeed said that the end of the season will be longgggggggggggg.... And it is. They say that the new coach is known and hired. We'll let's see, because nobody trust Cantaluppi and Zuberbuhler to bring Servette back to the top. Playing youngsters is nice, but not sufficient, especially that we believe they were forced to do it after this winter collapse: not part as a thoroughly made up plan. How will be made up the roster for next season? Nobody has a clue. Only youngsters? So it is likely that promotion will not be before the next next season.... Also, there is little signals that the club has the financial means to recruit and sustain a challenge for the SL. Depressing thoughts.....
OverseasView, I agree with many of your frustrations. How can a club like Schaffhausen and Wil with a budget a fraction of the size of Servette be much better than Servette? Mismanagement? I know that it is not always possible to know how players will perform, but this year was crazy. The management situation needs clarification quickly. Next year, Servette should be one of the favorites for promotion. The key that I see is when players start leaving Servette for other Challenge League clubs, that is when it is evident that Servette does not have a chance at promotion. I still think they will, who knows how LS will be next season, Schaffhausen and Wil are liable to loose key players due to their inability to pay. Just a frustrating season.
Rob, what is the most frustrating is the lack of visibility and consistency. With the most obvious negative impact: the football level that is appalling. The technical team at the beginning of the season was ok and Loic Favre was doing a good job for a start. The results were encouraging with the promotion still in the cards. But they were not given time. PZ played the politics and because Quennec listens the last one who yells the louder, the staff has again been changed with the dire consequences. Now after the storm the reconstruction. How long will it take? How many changes will be required? Will PZ improve? With which new coach? What about the finances? And what about the license? And with which public? The new season ticket campaign is going to be fruitless, I am afraid. Well this evening and tomorrow two great football matches in the CL. It will help to forget....
3 May Locarno - Winterthur Lugano - Chiasso Schaffhausen - Wil 4 May Vaduz - Wohlen Servette - Biel Vaduz should wrap up promotion this weekend.
Schaffhausen lost, Vaduz could be promoted tomorrow. Next season, 6 SL teams can qualify for the European cups with one of them being Vaduz!
3 May Locarno - Winterthur 2-2 Lugano - Chiasso 2-0 Schaffhausen - Wil 2-3 4 May Vaduz - Wohlen 3-0 Servette - Biel 2-1 Vaduz 72 Wil 57 Schafhausen 57 Lugano 55 Servette 52 Winterthur 40 Biel 32 Chiasso 28 Wohlen 24 Locarno 22 Congrats to Vaduz. Wohlen and Chiasso still not out of danger yet.
6 May Lugano - Schaffhausen Wil - Locarno 7 May Biel - FC Vaduz Winterthur - Servette Wohlen - Chiasso
6 May Lugano - Schaffhausen 2-1 Wil - Locarno 1-2 7 May Biel - FC Vaduz Winterthur - Servette Wohlen - Chiasso
Two rays of sunshine yesterday. Second win in a row, 2-1 against Winthertur, away. A lot of young U21 in the team.
10 May Schaffhausen - Wohlen Wil - Vaduz Chiasso - Winterthur 11 May Biel - Locarno Servette - Lugano
The Ultra section of the SFC la "Section Grenat" will celebrate its 25th anniversary during the Lugano match. They have very close links with the Lugano supporters and often are seen together during matches. Their flyer: http://i56.servimg.com/u/f56/11/57/10/45/flyer_10.jpg
10 May Schaffhausen - Wohlen 1-1 Wil - Vaduz 2-0 Chiasso - Winterthur 0-0 11 May Biel - Locarno 2-2 Servette - Lugano 1-0 A very odd weekend in the CL, just like the RSL. Vaduz looses to Wil, which they usually seem to do, Servette wins again with a young team. Schaffhausen draws with the 9th place team. There is a 3 way tie for 3rd, and any of those could catch Wil for 2nd. Bottom two are tied as well. Vaduz 72 Wil 60 Schaffhausen 58 Lugano 58 Servette 58 Winterthur 41 Biel 36 Chiasso 30 Wohlen 26 Locarno 26
Third win in a row with several U21. Lugano dominated, created a lot of clear opportunities but failed to score. The SFC game was so-so. Difficult to get something from this match about the validity of the revised project and about the qualities of the duo Zuberbuhler/Cantaluppi. What is obvious is that the audience was "officially" under 2'000: do they count the season ticket holders? So many fans are disillusioned, the stadium is empty. A banner "Zubi Raus" was shown and quickly removed by the security. Next critical milestone: the 19th May the League's decision about the license.
14 May Chiasso - Biel Vaduz - Schaffhausen Locarno - Lugano Servette - Wil Winterthur - Wohlen If Servette, Lugano, and Schaffhausen all win that would put 4 teams within a point for 2nd place. Wohlen and Locarno will go to the last day. Wohlen has a -27 goal differiental and Locarno a -35.
Another win. The young team gets results. 2-1 against Wil, after being lead 1-0. All goals in the last fifteen minute. And Tadic, who entered for these last minutes, scored the two goals: he is part of the banned players and will surely leave the club. Locarno will go down, they lost and Wohlen won. And it seems they are no longer able to pay the salaries and the social charges. Will they close the shop like Bellinzone?
14 May Chiasso - Biel 2-0 Vaduz - Schaffhausen 1-1 Locarno - Lugano 0-3 Servette - Wil 2-1 Winterthur - Wohlen 0-2 Vaduz 73 Lugano 61 Servette 61 Wil 60 Schaffhausen 59 Winterthur 41 Biel 36 Chiasso 33 Wohlen 29 Locarno 26 There is still a possibility that Wohlen goes down; they will have to loose to Servette and Locarno defeat Schaffhausen. The amount of goals that Wohlen would need to loose by, and Locarno win by is 13. Ok so that is not going to happen. If Locarno does close up shop, I wonder if another club from the 1st Division Classic gets promoted, or one team does not get relegated.
May 17 11:30Biel? - ?Winterthur 11:30Lugano? - ?FC Vaduz 11:30Schaffhausen? - ?Locarno 11:30Wil? - ?Chiasso 11:30Wohlen? - ?Servette 2nd place still up for grabs.
Servette, Locarno both received their license to play in the Challenge League next season. Of the 4 Promotion League teams that tried, only two received their license and can be promoted. Etoile Carouge and FC Le Mont (LS) can be promoted. YF Juventus and FC Köniz were denied on the first and second instances.
At the same time the club confirmed that Cooper, the U21 Cardiff' coach without a convincing CV) will be the new coach. Alongside a new organization, in which PZ is having a comfortable role waiting that Cooper fails. So much for stability.... Fans are not very confident. No sign of new money (some previous sponsors are leaving), the squad in a shamble and no sign about how they are going to build something solid (Tadic option was not used, so he leaves). And last straw, Cooper does not have the UEFA Pro license to coach a CL team. Meaning the club has to pay a deposit of 20'000 ChF until he gets it. Everybody wonders whether the guy will be able to lead a team in CL. So let's see the summer, whether they can recruit and build a meaningful team. Promotion seems very unlikely, so hoping they will not play against the relegation all season long. How are they going to attract the fans back to the stadium? Let's hope the World Cup will help us to forget this sad season.
I am optimistic at least a little. Tadic leaving for another BCL team was somewhat disturbing. Maybe they can do what the USMNT used to do and play double-headers with the Swiss NT or U21 team. Two games for one price? I hope that they go out and get some decent players. Possible using connections with Cardiff and get some of their better U21 players on loan? I do not see a relegation fight, I think that mid-table is where they will end up. Schaffhouse and Lugano should be at the top of the league, if they can keep some of their players. They and Wil did a great job on small budgets.
The Cardiff guys do not know the Swiss market. The rules prevent to have too many not HTP and National players. So they will have to rely on PZ.... And we have seen the quality of the players he recruited this winter. Will Loïc Favre stay? He is in the org chart, but not sure he is happy with what happened. He did a good job before PZ took the power.
Stade de Geneve will host two International Friendlies in the next month Kosovo vs Senegal 25 May at 17h00. Algeria vs Romania 4 June at 20h30.