3rd September 2017
International break so what do you do? Well there was the Faroe Islands v Andorra to be considered but we decided on something much better than that. A visit to Basel to watch BSC Old Boys take on Juvé Zürich and chalk off No. 36 of the Swiss 36.
So this is it then? The last of the Swiss 36? Well....nahhh! Like the "Doing the 92", covering the Swiss football grounds in the top 3 leagues is a bit like painting the Forth railway bridge. New teams come into the league, Old teams move to new grounds so you never really finish. I bet everyone is pleased to hear that!
We've actually already visited the Schützenmatte but laziness stopped the blog from being updated. So we've had to travel halfway across Switzerland ...again and watch a crap football match...again...just to complete this blog. And I have a stiff back too. I make my sacrifices. But I did manage to grab a bottle of wine and head for the station.
Points time.Getting There
8/10. Swiss public transport is fabulous. We had three connections with no longer than 6 minutes between any of them. But train, train, train, tram - no problem at all. A bit of confusion on which way to go when we got off the tram (I think we could have had a 5 minute walk in either direction). So - easy.
Friendliness
5/10. Not a soul from Old Boys said a word to us, apart from when tickets or refreshments were being bought. Embarrassingly, we had to ask a Juvé fan who was playing in what colours as the match started and he was nice enough. Oh, and one of the Basel II fans we'd met on our last outing said "hello" when we were on our way out.
Safety 9/10. As good as I've seen in the third flight of Swiss football. That's a decent all- seater stand and other than that, there's terracing all the way around (and terracing with a sensible step height). No stupid fences or nets but also no segregation. That's the only thing that's missing to prevent this ground being up to standard for the next level up. Should they improve enough to gain promotion, I can't see the SFA having any issue with allowing Old Boys to play at the Schützenmatte in the 2nd flight.
View
6/10. OK - I'll admit it. My dislike of multi-purpose stadia led me to looking for the worst view in the stadium. That being behind the hammer/discus circle. But really, decent terracing and that stand means the views are pretty good. Just the matter of an 8-lane athletics track and all the field event paraphernalia.
Atmosphere
1/10. Very quiet, unfortunately. Only 213 were at the match but apart from when goals were scored - nothing.
Refreshments
5/10. Sausages. The lady who served me my hot-dog managed to poke a hole right through my hot dog bun so the ketchup ran out and onto my shirt, so that didn't help! Soft drinks, beer and ice cream also available. We also saw chips but the source of the chips was a well kept secret.
Overall
34/60 - a very decent stadium that could score very high if they ever got a crowd in it!
The Match
Bottom of the table Old Boys put 4 past Juvé without reply. It was clear from the outset that Old Boys were up for this as they employed a shoot on sight policy. After just 8 minutes a lob from the edge of centre circle beat the Juvé 'keeper before landing on top of the goal net. The lead was taken after 22 minutes with an easy tap-in for Serkan Sahin after a long corner was headed back into the middle. There followed a bit of controversy. An Old Boys striker was bearing down on the Juvé 'keeper. He went down and the referee pointed to the spot. The goalie wasn't happy and had run to the linesman who was waving his flag furiously. After a brief conflab, Juvé were awarded a free kick and the OB striker had a yellow card for simulation. Right or wrong? - I couldn't say.
It didn't matter much though. On 26 minutes it was 2:0 with Adrian Fleury smashing a ball into the bottom corner from about 30 yards. Fabulous strike! Shortly afterwards, it was three. Merghim Ahmeti ran through the inside-left channel and decided to go it alone when there were perhaps better options to his right. But he scored so what do I know?!
In the second half and there were a few incidents that could have led to bizarre goals. A Juvé cross was missed by the Old Boys' 'keeper who was no doubt relieved to see it bounce off the top of the bar. A few minutes later, a looping ball into the OB area was given up as a lost cause by everyone. They soon took interest when it bounced off the post though. Bizarre! It was then Old Boys turn for a strange incident. After a poor goal-kick from Juvé, there was a tackle and the ball flew out back towards the goal from where it had just come. The 'keeper was beaten but as the ball bounced in front of the goal line, it had enough backspin to bounce back out and a relieved 'keeper dived on it. You normally get a maximum of one weird incident per game. Here we were with three in a half!
Serkan Sakin finished the scoring with his second. 4-0 probably flattered Old Boys but they certainly deserved this much-needed win.
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