2013/14 Swiss Super League: Matchday One Review

The first match to kick off the season will see the Young Boys host Sion. This contest will be played in the Stade de Suisse. The Young Boys finished in seventh position last year while Sion was in sixth. Sion actually had the right amount of points to play in the Europa League but lost out on goal differential. Both Clubs came into the season knowing that anything less than UEFA League tourney's next year will not do.

The Young Boys dominated this match from get go. Alexander Gerndt scored in tenth minute to give the home crowd something to cheer for. Michael Frey would add a goal in 42nd minute to give the home club a 2-0 lead. Sion managed nothing all game as the second half didnt improve. All the managed is a couple of yellow cards.

Five yellow cards were given out with Young Boys players Elsad Zverotic, Raphel Nuzzalo and Gonzab Zarate picking them up. Pa Madou Jagne and Andris Vanins picked up yellows for Sion.

Ten clubs will start the season with one thing in mind, winning the Swiss Super League title and playing in the Champions League tourney next season. Basel comes in as the defending champions and will play in the champions bracket of the third qualifying round of this years Champions League tourney. Grasshopper finished second and will also play in the Champions League tourney. They will start also in the third qualifying round but in the non-champions side of the bracket. Three other clubs will see UEFA league competition as St. Gallen, Zurich and Thun will all play in this years Europa League tourney.

The Swiss Super league as minimal success as next year they will move up to the 13th ranking in UEFA's league coefficient ranking from #14. They are a far ways away from getting up to number ten and adding a third team to the Champions League but any improvement is good. Ten clubs is all that the Swiss Super League has in it but don't think that the competition is good. Basel can play with the big boys and Grasshopper looks to make their mark this year in Champions League.

Basel comes in as the defending champions and are the Swiss Super League best chance at glory in that tourney. FC Aarau just got promoted to the Super League and get rewarded with a road match against the defending champion. St. Jakob Park will played host to this contest. Both clubs come in will different agendas. Basel wants to win the title again while Aarau doesn't wanna be relegated.

Basel dominated the contest holding possession 60% of time. A first half goal from Mohamed Salah put the champions on the board. Mohamed would draw a yellow in 42nd minute to finish off the action from Basel. Newcomers Aarau had nothing in first half except a yellow from Artur Ionita.

With Aarau feeling some what confident after being down only one goal entering second half those thoughts got dashed in 64th minute when Raul Bobadilla scored. Marco Streller made it 3-0 after his goal in 73rd minute. Aarau did manage to get on board in 79th minute behind a score from Juan Pablo Garat. Davide Calla of Aarau picked up the only yellow of second half.

In a match-up of two of the top clubs in the Swiss Super League Letzigrund Stadion saw a great match. FC Zurich hosted FC Thun in probably the best match of Matchday One, without a doubt the best second half.

Both clubs failed to register anything during the first half excpet two yellow cards for Thun as everyone was standing their ground. Milos Krstic and Dennis Hediger recieved those cards for Thun. Zurich's coach Urs Meier must have said something great at halftime because his club came out swinging in second half. Only three minutes in and Mario Gavranovic found the back of the net to give the home club a 1-0 lead. Time to celebrate right, NOPE! FC Thun's Coach Urs Fischer also gave a great speech as Thun answered with two goals in nine minutes to take a 2-1 on the road. Josef Martinez scored in 49th minute followed by Dennis Hediger's goal in 58th minute. Things settled down for almost twenty minutes until Thun's Cassio picked up a yellow card in 76th minute. Zurich would get their stadium rocking again as Pedro Henrique scored in the 84th minute to level the score at 2-2. Alain Nef would pick up a yellow for Zurich in 88th minute right before stoppage time started. Three minutes into stoppage time Berat Djimsiti scored to give FC Zurich a 3-2 win and claim all three points at home. The Thun players were shocked as they thought they did enough to garner at-least a draw.

Both of these clubs finished at the bottom of the league table last year in eight and ninth respectively. Both were needing to get off to a great start to the new season. FC Luzern was looking for all three points to give their home fans something to cheer for and get the Swissporarena rocking. Lausanne Sports just wanted to leave with a point and earn something from this road contest.

FC Luzern did rewarded their fans as they defeated Lausanne Sport 2-0 behind goals from Dimitar Rangelova in 42nd minute and Claudio Lustenberger in 88th minute. Luzern played a very clean match with no players receiving yellow cards. Lausanne was not so lucky as Matar Coly and Patrick Ekeng Ekeng picked up yellows.

This win is very big for a club just trying to stay in league. With newcomers FC Aarau up next in their first road match Luzern has a chance to start season with six points out of two matches. Lausanne will need to figure out something quick as the Young Boys are up next.

AFG Arena was the sight of this contest pitting FC St. Gallen against Grasshoppers Zurich. These are two of the top clubs in the Swiss Super League and both will be representing the league in UEFA competitions this year. With St. Gallen being the home club for this match-up you would think they would play with a spark to get off to a great start and beat another top club so early in season. Well, they didn't.

Grasshoppers dominated this game from the start as second half goals from Shkelzen Gashi in 67th minute and Izet Hajrovic in 90th minute was all they needed to steal three points on the road. They did however pick up three yellow cards that could hurt them later. Stepane Grichting, Izet Hajrovic and Amir Abrashi all picked up yellow cards for Grasshoppers. They only name putting down for St. Gallen was Stephane Besle in the 12th minute when he received a yellow card.