Actually, since this is the main competition now, that would be 3 points (I will update the coefficient thread later.) I will take the tie against Hajduk. I would've prefered a 1-0 or even a 0-0, but a 1-1 is pretty good considering our situation before the game. Our defence (Lichtsteiner, Salatic, Jaggy, Opabunmi) had an average age of 18.5 (!), yet they made only one mistake (on the corner that led to the 1-1). Yeah, that away goal by Hajduk hurts, but I am confident that we can get a win (or high-scoring tie) on the road once some of our players return. *Sigh* If only Mladen Petric would've scored the 2nd goal in the 95th minute when he had a huge chance...
I wish Xamax would've followed my prediction and gotten an away goal. Oh well, they are still very much in this contest. Unfortunatley Rey will be out for the rest of the year... Well, their sugar-mama Gigi Oeri was even talking about winning it - but let's not get carried away here...
Grasshoppers will use a very offense-oriented formation for the 2nd leg. The idea is to "keep the ball away" from the inexperienced backline (Gamboa is still out, and Castillo caught a very bad cold): --------------Gane------------- -----Eduardo--Petric--Nunez-------- --------Shala---Spycher------------- Lichtsteiner--Schwegler--Salatic--Jaggy ---------------Borer--------------- Full risk is the strategy...let's hope it works out. Coach Carlos Bernegger won't be able to sit on the bench for this game since he's serving the 2nd game of a 3 game suspension (he got sent off in Athens). Replacing him on the bench for this game will be Carlo Kuzmanovic, who is in charge of GC's youth system. My predictions: Hajduk - GC 1:2 Basel - Malatyaspor 2:1 Xamax - Auxerre 1:1 (Let's hope I'm wrong)
56' Hajduk Split (Cro) 0 - 0 Grasshoppers (Swi) No score yet in Croatia. The other games begin in about one hour.
GCZ is playing a man up as Racunica recieved a red card in the 39' minute. "The busy midfielder is sent off for his second booking in three minutes, this time for a deliberate handball after he made contact when Shala's cross bounced off his arm" Some other first half highlights: "4' Eduardo (Grasshoppers) has an effort on goal. The Swiss side counter-attack swiftly and Eduardo breaks the offside trap and chips the ball over the advancing goalkeeper Sunara. The effort is goalbound but Rukavina clears from under the crossbar and concedes a corner. " "21' The ball is in the back of the net after an Eduardo free-kick sails past Sunara but two Grasshoppers forwards were offside and the effort is ruled out. A close shave for Hajduk, who have been on top so far. "
GCZ is pushing forward, and Hajduk is defending in numbers: 72' Richard Nuñez jinks into the area and beats two men but the impressive Neretljak shphers the ball into touch. 75' Eduardo's free-kick goes straight into the Hajduk wall. Another good effort squandered. 76' Eduardo crosses from the left and the ball is booted to safety. Grasshoppers are pushing players forward in a bid to snatch the crucial goal they need. 78' Sunara leaps to claim a cross from Nuñez as Hajduk nerves continue to jangle at the back. They are bending but not as of yet breaking.
Put a fork in this season. Hajduk was a man down, and we still can't score. If we would've played half as good as last season, we would've beaten Hajduk with ease in this series... Normally I would be pissed as hell, but the nats got me in such a good mood on saturday.
Absolutely priceless. Basel managed to blow their 2-0 lead at home and we're now looking at overtime... HT: Xamax-Auxerre 0:0
Poor Grasshoppers. Away goals. Too bad. I was going to tell you that Bâle is losing 1-0 64'[0 - 1]Kocak But now I hear that Malatyaspor has scored another! 85'[0 - 2]Kocak Bâle
Oh boy, this day keeps getting worse and worse. Auxerre just scored... If things continue like this, we might soon be joining the Austrian teams in their misery. [EDIT] And as soon as I said that, Streller scored for Basel. 6 more minutes for the silver goal
OT: Basel - Malatyaspor 1:2 And Basel made it through. Today's game should be a lesson for the Basel players and bring 'em back to the cold floor of reality. I'm sure Christian Gross will drill this match into their minds whenever they start getting cocky again. Since several seeded teams choked today, Basel should be one of the seeded teams in the 2nd round...