Swiss victorious as Intertoto Cup kicks off

St Gallen's Barnetta (left) jumps for the ball with Tofir's Dan during Saturday's Intertoto Cup match Keystone

The football World Cup may not be over but St Gallen and FC Zurich have sprung back into action by notching up two convincing wins in the first leg of the first round of the Intertoto Cup.

St Gallen made light work of the Faroe Islands side, B68 Tofir, by clinching a 5-1 victory. The match was second-half heavy with four of the goals being scored in the last 45 minutes.

In front of a 5,700-strong home crowd Alex scored a hat trick with teammates Gane and Imhof scoring one goal apiece.

The Faroe Islands team had to make do with only one goal, which came late on in the 77th minute, scored by Jann Ingi Petersen.

FC Zurich

Elsewhere in German-speaking Switzerland, FC Zurich thrashed Bosnian side Brotnjo Citluk with a 7-0 win. Again, like fellow Swiss team St Gallen, the goal action proved to be plentiful in the second half, with the Swiss team hitting five into the back of the net.

The Bosnian team got off to a shaky start when Raguz scored an own goal, putting FC Zurich 1-0 up after just four minutes. The side never seemed to recover from their early mistake and ended up having to watch one goal after another pass by their keeper.

Zurich’s Akale scored four of the goals with Keita and Gygax making the final tally 7-0.

Rosy prospects

With both Swiss sides pulling off high-scoring wins, the prospects of qualifying for the second round after the first round return leg looks rosy. Both teams will play their opponents at their home grounds at the end of the month. The team with the highest aggregate score after this second leg will then go through to the next round.

Saturday’s matches were the first step in the Swiss teams long bid for UEFA Cup glory. To reach the UEFA Cup, which is Europe’s second biggest club competition after the Champions league, teams have to come through five rounds of the Intertoto Cup.

swissinfo with agencies