Swiss Role

The Season So Far:

I’m not normally a follower of Swiss football, my awareness of it mainly coming from teams such as Basel and Young Boys’ participation in European competitions. There are just ten teams in the Super League, today’s home team still battling for a place in the Europa League sitting in 5th. The visitors – relegation play-off survivors last seasons – looking up at all but one of their rival clubs. Surely this should be easy for FCZ!

Well, winter break friendlies aside, they were still looking for their first win of 2020. Before this, inconsistent results including a 3-1 away win over league leaders St Gallen and a 5-0 home defeat to Servette, suggested the outcome tonight would be less straightforward. On the other hand Xamax were looking for another win after beating Sion away the previous weekend.

The Visit:

This game provided a rare opportunity for me to attend a match abroad as I tend to go on holiday during the off season in a vain attempt to pass the time between football seasons. Holidaying in February with my other half and 2 friends was a new but welcome experience – breaking up that time after Christmas and New Year that seems so bleak and lasts so long. We started in Strasbourg, arriving the previous Saturday evening but with no local games taking place I had to settle for sightseeing and exploring the city’s historic streets. Over the next few days we worked our way east to Bavaria and then south to Liechtenstein where I knew I had to pay a visit to the national stadium. From the tiny Principality we headed west to Zurich, arriving Saturday afternoon allowing little time to explore the city before heading to the stadium.

Stadion Letzigrund is situated just outside of the city centre in a fairly residential district of Zurich. On entering the spacious concourse you are afforded a good view over the pitch (and running track). The club’s Ultras were situated on terracing in one corner – their designated area already full and buzzing with 30 minutes to go until kick off. Directly opposite, a small pocket of visiting fans could just about be made out. At this point I should say that the stadium is very much symmetrical in terms of stand height and design – a real bowl of a ground, with the pitch below street level. We took our seats by halfway and readied ourselves for the match, which, for the first time for me would potentially involve VAR – the small television screen on the opposite touchline being the giveaway.

Just 6 minutes in, the visitors won a corner. It was headed clear but only as far as Ramizi whose off-target shot was redirected into the net by Latvian defender Marcis Oss. Zurich came back at them and thought they had the equaliser through Blaz Kramer but his goal was ruled out for offside. Kramer would get his goal, though, calmly passing the ball under the goalkeeper after having been put clean through. After this chances were few and far between. Mostly coming from corners or long shots. The visitors seemed happy to come away with a point, while Zurich couldn’t find a way to break them down. Oss could’ve had a brace on the hour mark but his header was well saved by Yanick Brecher. With 20 minutes to go, Kramer almost got his second – put through on goal again and managing to chip over the keeper, the ball seemed to get held up in the mud of the 6 yard box, allowing Xamax to clear. The final chance of the game came in injury time – substitute Adrian Winter’s shot was charged down which took the sting off it and allowed the visiting goalkeeper to gather. Full time 1-1 and Xamax will be happy with this point I suspect.

Overall I really enjoyed the experience – the game wasn’t the best but certainly had its moments. The atmosphere was good despite the ground being only just over a quarter full and I found the locals to be friendly. It wasn’t cheap and I don’t like having to contend with the presence of a running track around the pitch, but I would still recommend a visit to Stadion Letzigrund.

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