Top fight against leader YB: The FCZ has this unexpected advantage

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Top game in Letzigrund! Leader YB visits pursuer Zurich. The goal takes place right after the international break – did the two coaches even have time to prepare for the big match without the many absent national players? Because you would think that both top teams would have released a number of players.

But oops. When it comes to national players, the picture is completely opposite at FCZ and YB. The champions were missing twelve players, the Zurich team was only missing four. And FCZ did not have a single regular player on an international trip: Silvan Wallner (U21 national team) and Armstrong Oko-Flex (U21 Ireland) are not part of coach Bo Henriksen’s starting eleven, even though Wallner was allowed to play against YB for the injured Fabio Daprelà. The Swiss U19 also included two players from Zurich, but they did not play professionally this season.

Six YB players in Africa alone

In contrast, YB has been spread across half the world in the past two weeks. Filip Ugrinic, Ulisses Garcia and Loris Benito were called up for Switzerland and goalkeeper Anthony Racioppi was later nominated. Aurèle Amenda played in the U21 national team. Ebrima Colley, Saidy Janko (both Gambia), Mohamed Ali Camara (Guinea), Meschack Elia (DR Congo), Silvere Ganvoula (Congo) also traveled to Africa for their selections. There is also an absent duo, Noah Persson (U21 Sweden) and Malik Deme (Swiss U19).

At FCZ not a single regular player was gone – at YB eight to ten, depending on how you count. Zurich trained with the entire team, the Bern team only trained on the Friday before the match in Zurich. YB coach Raphael Wicky describes that the focus when staying at home was on other matters: “Because we are still involved in all three competitions, we have had a lot of matches. For the players who were in Bern during the national team’s break, it was important to adapt their training individually and find a balance between intensive training and recovery. We succeeded in that, even with lower inventory.” De Valais adds: “It’s part of having to improvise in phases like this.”

Henriksen sees no advantage, at least in terms of energy consumption

Zurich with training advantage for the top fight. Or? Wicky: “As a coach you always prefer to have all the players in training. However, we welcome every call-up to the national team that our players receive. Experience on the international stage is very valuable for every player.”

Henriksen, for his part, sees no FCZ advantage: “I don’t think it matters at all. Because from what I’ve seen, many of YB’s national players weren’t even used.” The Dane believes that there should not be a big difference, at least when it comes to the wear and tear of strength during the national team’s break. It will be unveiled on Saturday.

Source : Blick