Football teams prepare for final chase
Switzerland's football league championship appears to be heading for a gripping showdown between defending champions St Gallen and the country's biggest club, Grasshoppers Zurich.
With just three rounds remaining, the two sides are level on points at the top of the Swiss league table. If neither team can pull clear in the next two matches the stage will be set for a tense finale on May 26, when St Gallen welcome Grasshoppers to the Espenmoos stadium.
Following Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Basel, winter champions Lugano seem to have surrendered any realistic chance of winning the title – the Ticinese club are now four points off the pace. But Roberto Morinini’s side could yet play a key role in determining the name of this season’s winners.
After a home fixture against Servette Geneva on Tuesday, St Gallen must travel to Lugano for their penultimate game with Marcel Koller’s team hoping to improve on the dismal away form that has put their title defence in jeopardy.
Last Saturday’s 2-0 defeat in Lausanne saw St Gallen lose away for the fourth time in six championship round games. A single victory away to FC Zurich and a draw in Basel has earned Marcel Koller’s team just four points on the road since the end of the winter break.
Koller can at least take comfort in the fact that Lugano’s performances at home have been almost as poor as St Gallen’s away form. In their six championship round home games to date, Lugano have won just once, picking up four draws and one defeat.
If Grasshoppers Zurich can edge ahead of St Gallen in their next two matches (away to Basel and at home to bottom side Sion) and set up that dramatic final showdown, last year’s champions are still likely to remain favourites for this year’s title.
St Gallen’s dominance on their own turf has more than made up for their weakness away from home. The team from east Switzerland are unbeaten in their last 34 matches at the Espenmoos stadium and have won all five of their home games this year.
By their own high standards, Grasshoppers’ three-year drought since last winning the Swiss league has been a long one. But if the resurgent Zurich club can snatch the title for a record 26th time with an away win in fortress St Gallen’s, their success would be as deserved as it would be dramatic.
by Mark Ledsom
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