The Bernese start the second half of the season eight points behind the leaders FCZ. But the championship title remains the goal – “everything else would not be credible,” says sports director Christoph Spycher.
“It also has a lot to do with believing in the team,” says sports director Christoph Spycher before YB begins the hunt for FC Zurich.
Before the championship started, a journalist wanted to know from YB sports director Christoph Spycher whether he believed goalie David von Ballmoos could have a Super League season. And Spycher said: “If not, we would have hired another goalie.”
It was the summer of 2017, von Ballmoos was considered an unknown goalkeeper, 22 years old. But YB started the season with him. And what spoke out of Spycher above all: this unconditional trust in his players, in his ideas. Von Ballmoos was his own junior, whom the Bernese had allowed to gain experience in Winterthur – and in 2017 they threw him in at the deep end in the top league.
Since then, YB has won the championship four times, von Ballmoos has been injured repeatedly, but he is the main goalie. He is also currently missing after a shoulder operation, in this most difficult phase for years: YB is tackling the second half of the season in third place, eight points behind the leaders FC Zurich. But what is striking: how little this deficit seems to concern the Bernese. When YB asked for a press conference on Tuesday, Spycher said the championship remained the goal, “everything else would not be credible”. Coach David Wagner said: “It would be total nonsense if I said after half: No, we’re not doing it anymore.”
0 francs for replacement
YB is aggressive, says Wagner, but: “We’ll say that today – and then it’s good.” From then on, from the first game in the second half of the season against Lugano on Saturday, Wagner just wants to play and let them play – and not keep calculating and having them calculate how big the gap is. Or: how small. Because the people of Berne seem to be firmly assuming that this mortgage will become increasingly smaller compared to the FCZ. The “Berner Zeitung” quoted the YB player Sandro Lauper as follows: “We still have two direct encounters, then there are still two points behind.” It sounds remarkably confident for a team that has never had a prolonged slump in the autumn – but has repeatedly given away points recklessly in the league.
YB is aggressive, but: “We’ll say that today – and then it’s good.” The coach David Wagner before the start of the second half of the season.
From now on they will not be allowed to allow themselves this negligence; it actually requires concentration, like that of a downhill skier who wants to win the Lauberhorn race and has to remain more or less flawless for two and a half minutes.
Spycher says there is a great belief that the team will be able to catch up. “It also has a lot to do with belief in the team.” This reflects all the self-image that the Bernese have created for themselves in recent years. They talk about trust in the team and live it. They gave two top performers to Serie A clubs in winter: Silvan Hefti (fixed to Genoa) and Michel Aebischer, who is moving to Bologna, initially on loan, but with an obligation to buy if certain criteria are met.
From U 17 to Serie A: Former YB junior Michel Aebischer is moving to Bologna.
The Bernese spent zero francs on replacement solutions. They recalled full-back Lewin Blum, one of their own juniors, from Yverdon, where he last played on loan. And in Aebischer’s position in central midfield, YB believes that it is so well occupied with Lauper, Vincent Sierro, Christopher Martins and Fabian Rieder that it certainly sees no need for action.
Does the management trust the team to catch up? If not, she would have signed other players. She only hired one new goalie, Anthony Racioppi, after there had often been a state of emergency in the autumn and a total of five goalkeepers had been deployed.
And so it’s not surprising that there is a certain congruence between the actions of management and the vocabulary of footballers. The players feel that the bosses have a lot of confidence in them – so they talk like that. Two direct encounters with FCZ, six points.
her life, her dream
YB always shied away from slogans about who was number 1 in Swiss football. After these legendary 32 years without a championship title, from 1986 to 2018, they simply wanted to live their lives and their dreams and were happy to point out that FCB had better conditions, especially with the youth campus.
But dealing with the big gap to the FCZ shows what has developed: YB dares to overtake the leader. Back in 2017, when YB bet on Ballmoos’ rookie, someone asked what Spycher’s goal was. The Young Boys had finished second last season, now they must want to finish first, right? But the sports director said: “What is possible depends on what the competition allows.”
What is possible also depends on what the competition allows. But the people of Bern don’t talk like that anymore. It’s her way of showing her new self-image. And to put the FCZ under pressure.