- FC Zürich had to settle for a 1-1 draw against St. Gallen after conceding a late goal on match day 5 of the Super League.
- Jonathan Okita lets the Letzigrund celebrate with a stroke of genius before Fabian Schubert equalizes in a chaotic scene in the 94th minute.
- Meanwhile, Yverdon surprised with a 4-1 home win over Servette.
Everything looked as if the leaders FC Zurich would celebrate a complete success on the 5th matchday. At the end of regular time, the hosts were leading 1-0 against St. Gallen and seemed to have everything under control defensively. But the “Aspens” braced themselves against the impending defeat. Substitute Julian von Moos (68th) sinned from a favorable final position, as did Christian Witzig (77th/84th).
Things got even worse for the guests: Captain Lukas Görtler had to leave the field after 75 minutes with a foot injury. Without their leader, groundbreaking ideas remained scarce, the narrow defeat seemed the logical consequence.
Zigi with Assist – the millimeters are on the St. Gallen side
Up to the 4th minute of stoppage time: After a corner kick, the ball seemed just behind the line, via goalkeeper Lawrence Ati Zigi who had moved up, the ball landed at Joker Fabian Schubert. But the VAR intervened and a heated discussion ensued: Was the ball really behind the line? Was Schubert offside? It took a while for the guests before salvation followed: the goal counted, the 1-1 almost in the last minute. Just 6 minutes earlier, the VAR had unmasked Antonio Marchesano for offside on his apparent 2-0 lead.
Okita’s stroke of genius
The supposedly decisive scene in the Letzigrund happened in the 56th minute: just moments after the once again hapless FCSG attacker Willem Geubbels failed in front of FCZ keeper Yanick Brecher, Jonathan Okita’s hour came (56th). With his 4th goal of the season, he illustrated the definition of the term dream goal. The Congolese controlled a high pass wonderfully at first. Then he realized that Zigi was standing far in front of his case. From about 30 meters Okita netted a dream – a stroke of genius!
Little going on in the initial phase
After a long sampling phase, the first half was characterized by many duels and the focus on defensive stability. Nikola Boranijasevic, who headed his free-standing header just over the St. Gallen goal (22nd) and Cheick Conde from a distance (31st) gave the leader the only real chances. For the guests, Chadrak Akolo (39th) failed after a mistake by Nikola Katic on Brecher. Incidentally, he had to get back behind him for the first time after 3 goalless competitive games in a row.
There were indications that a stroke of genius might be necessary to decide the game. And indeed it seemed so, thanks to the genius Jonathan Okita. But in the end, a great virtue of the eastern Swiss prevented this: that giving up is never an option.
votes on the game
This is how it goes
St. Gallen welcomes FC Lausanne-Sport on Saturday at 6 p.m. The next day, FC Zurich makes a guest appearance at FC Basel for the “classic”. FC Winterthur and Yverdon-Sport will play the SRF live game of the round on Saturday evening at 8:30 p.m.