FC Zurich – FC St. Gallen 0: 3 – The leader loses – and Dzemaili pushes frustration
The leader loses – and Dzemaili pushes frustration
In the duel between the two best teams in 2022, FC St. Gallen won 3-0 at FC Zurich. FCZ trainer Breitenreiter says: “The world is not going down.”
Completely served, annoyed, dissatisfied with the world in general and with the referee in particular. It is an expressive finish that Blerim Dzemaili chooses. First he rips his shirt off, then he waves it off until he has disappeared into the catacombs.
The special thing about Dzemaili’s gestures: Only 45 minutes have been played. His FC Zurich would also have enough time to make up the 0-2 deficit that he had against St. Gallen before the break.
The people of Zurich actually come out on the pitch again for the second half – with Dzemaili. They’re trying to bounce back from their first loss in 17 league games. Coach André Breitenreiter brings miracle joker Wilfried Gnonto. He brings everyone who, based on their training, should know where the opposing goal is. In the end, five Zurich offensive players are on the field. (You can read the ticker here here.)
The escape artists remain trapped
FCZ has already scored ten times this season in games in which they fell behind. Unleashing won’t succeed this time. Dzemaili’s strife at the break is the right image for the performance of the leader from Zurich: For the first time since September 26, 2021 and the 1: 3 in Basel, he has to acknowledge that details and tight decisions can sometimes fall on the opponent’s side.
The game is less than five minutes old when the first decisive scene takes place: Nikola Boranijasevic sends Assan Ceesay on with a through ball. And the Gambier hits the second attempt to make it 1-0. To the supposed 1:0 because the assistant is shown offside.
Breitenreiter calls the scene “very, very controversial”: “The pictures show that it was more of the same height.” The FCZ coach is right because Matej Maglica will probably cancel the offside. But Breitenreiter also shows class by not hanging the defeat on this denied goal: “St. Gallen deserved this win.”
The resurrection of FC St. Gallen
The resurrection of the eastern Swiss this year is actually recognizable. Her coach Peter Zeidler remembered after the 3-0 win: “After the last game here, we went into the winter break with 16 points and were very depressed.” Almost exactly three months later, the St. Gallen are at 34 points. The fear of relegation is far away.
That has to do with the St. Gallen winter transfers. Jordi Quintillà is the calming influence in the center who steers the team’s exuberant energy in the right direction. At 1.98 meters, Maglica not only brings a power that the central defense has lacked so far. He also scored two minutes after Ceesay’s goal was disallowed from a corner to give St Gallen the lead. And wing Julian von Moos not only proves his talent with his 2-0 in the 34th minute.
When another winter mover, Christopher Lungoyi, made it 3-0 in the 89th minute, the St. Gallen leadership danced in the stands around President Matthias Hüppi.
The defeated leader, on the other hand, is deliberately calm. “The world is not ending for us,” says coach Breitenreiter. why? Next weekend we’re going to the Young Boys in Bern. Even in the worst FCZ he would still be nine points ahead at the top of the table after that game.
Florian Raz is a sports editor at Tamedia, has been writing about football since 2001 and is the host of the podcast “Dritte Halbzeit”.
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