The games of the season are scheduled for the Young Boys on Thursday 11 and 18 March. The supreme leader in the Swiss Super League cleverly eliminated Bayer Leverkusen in the second round of the Europa League, with a diptych with Ajax in the eighth final as a reward for the stunt. In Switzerland, the team of trainer Erik ten Hag is considered a big favorite prior to the European encounters, but Young Boys are not considered to have no chance at all. It says a lot about the change in mentality that Ajax’s opponent has gone through in recent years.
By Rian Rosendaal
“Ajax is a big club here, there is no doubt about that”, answers Alain Kunz, football follower of the Swiss newspaper. Blick, at the request of Football zone what Ajax’s reputation is in the Alpine country in 2021. “They may not be at the level they were two years ago when they reached the semi-finals in the Champions League. But nevertheless it is still a very big name here, absolutely. I would put Ajax in Category 2. Big one. clubs like Manchester United, Barcelona, Juventus and Real Madrid are in Category 1, and Ajax is one level below that. ” Young Boys has also become a big name in their own country, mainly due to the successes in the sports field in recent years. Kunz explains the difference with the period before, when conquering the national title in Switzerland seemed like a utopia for YB.
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“They have become champions three times in a row (in 2018, 2019 and 2020, ed.) And have played in the Champions League two seasons ago and won against Juventus (2-1 in the group stage in the 2018/19 season). ed.) “, the sports journalist refers to the successful years of the club founded in 1898. “And they are now of course responsible for the elimination of Bayer Leverkusen in the Europa League. It is a team that for years was the second club in Switzerland (behind FC Basel, ed.), Which caused them trauma, as a team that really was known as the loser. FC Basel became champion eight times in a row (between 2010 and 2017, ed.) and in that period before that they also managed to win several league titles. ” Ajax’s next European opponent has come a long way.
“Young Boys is a big club, a club from the Swiss capital (Bern, ed.). They just never managed to become champions of Switzerland. Even conquering the national cup was not there. lasted more than thirty years “, Kunz continues his analysis of the capital cities. Young Boys was deprived of cup success between 1987 and 2020, while 2018 saw the first league title since 1986. “All of that has led to the club’s image loser “, explains the Young Boys watcher.” Ajax is also the club from the capital, but I cannot imagine that they will remain without a national title for thirty years, that seems out of the question. In the meantime, Grashopper Zürich has become champion a few times and of course also FC Basel. Even a few smaller clubs took home the championship, but Young Boys missed everything in those years. “
Christoph Spycher, here as a player for Frankfurt in a duel with Arjen Robben, is the driving force behind Young Boys.
With the arrival of Adi Hütter, now working at Eintracht Frankfurt, as a trainer in the summer of 2015, better times finally dawned for Young Boys in the sporting field. “The wait for success went further, however, but in his third year at the club (in 2018, ed.) The national title was finally won. That was a real turnaround, because no one would have expected the championship ever again. would end up with Young Boys “, Kunz refers to the new glory period at the Wankdorf Stadium in Bern. FC Basel suffered a serious setback and Young Boys got better and better. Participation in the Champions League also gave the club a huge boost, because that suddenly brought in 20 to 25 million euros. That is of course great for a Swiss club. “
Technical director major driver of Young Boys
“And since then Young Boys have been performing incredibly well, which is really unique for a club from Switzerland.” Kunz immediately appoints the architect behind the enormous success of the past seasons: “That is without doubt Christoph Spycher, the current technical director. mastermind. The president and CEO of Young Boys do not play any role in the sporting field. Spycher really carries the club on his own, what he manages to achieve in the sporting field is really not normal “, the former player from Frankfurt and Young Boys, among others, receives praise from his fellow countryman.” And Hütter is of course also very important. in his short time at the club. And on the field, Guillaume Hoarau was the most important pawn “, says Kunz the attacker who left for FC Sion in 2020, who managed to find the net 118 times in 188 games.
The successful Hütter, from Austria, was succeeded in 2018 by Swiss coach Gerardo Seoane and under his leadership two consecutive league titles were won. However, the 42-year-old coach knows that the diptych with Ajax will be of a completely different order, especially compared to the games in the Super League. “Seoane has already announced that Young Boys will have to play a perfect match twice against Ajax”, Kunz explains. “Spycher and Seoane have also said that Young Boys does not stand a chance in advance, but two perfect duels are needed to be able to beat Ajax. If everything really works, Young Boys may have a chance. However, the mentality is no longer the same. In the past it would have been said in advance that Ajax is a size too big, but that is now absolutely out of the question. It concerns two matches and Young Boys has the advantage that the return match is in their own stadium. That may offer opportunities. “it sounds optimistic from Switzerland.
Kunz is very impressed by the revolution that was partly initiated by Spycher in Bern. “There is certainly a clear structure within the organization. If one or more players leave Young Boys, then the scouting always proactively provides successors. This means that the selection never gets unbalanced. ago not many players are left, but in spite of this they have not compromised on quality. ” Patience is the magic word in the technical management of the club. “Take Theoson-Jordan Siebatcheu, for example, who managed to score in the away match against Leverkusen. He was taken over by Stade Rennes from Stade Reims in 2018 for about ten million euros. he was still far too expensive at the time, but his name remained on the list and when he ran into problems at Rennes, another attempt was made to trap him. backup from top scorer Jean-Pierre Nsame. That is typical of the way things are nowadays at Young Boys “, Kunz gives a glimpse into the working method of the list leader.
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Kunz is much less positive about Miralem Sulejmani. “He has lost his starting place at Young Boys”, it sounds without hesitation. The Swiss football connoisseur has yet to see whether the now 32-year-old wing attacker will get playing time from Seoane in the Europa League duels with Ajax. “His replacement Nicolas Moumi Ngamaleu is a fixture in the Cameroon national team. He played very well against Leverkusen on two occasions.” Most attention in Bern and the surrounding area, however, goes to Nsame, who set a record in the 2019/20 season with 32 league goals in 32 appearances. “That had not happened since the founding of the Swiss Super League in 2003,” Kunz emphasizes. An average of one goal per match. In the past football season, only Bayern Munich star player Robert Lewandowski (34 hits in 31 Bundesliga matches) did even better than Nsame.
The task of Ajax’s defense is to stop top scorer Jean-Pierre Nsame.
“Furthermore, it is difficult to identify real stars at Young Boys,” says Kunz after being asked what the eye-catchers are in the current selection. “Fabian Lustenberger also stands out, that is the captain. He played a total of twelve seasons at Hertha BSC and was also the captain. After Nsame, that is clearly the second star player of Young Boys. “Goalkeeper David von Ballmoos is also a frequently mentioned name, although the compliments do not give him a permanent place in the national team.” He is only goalkeeper number three there. Borussia Mönchengladbach’s Yann Sommer is first choice and Montpellier’s Jonas Omlin is the second goalkeeper. Von Ballmoos is third choice because Roman Bürki of Borussia Dortmund has thanked the Swiss team in 2019. “For some players of Young Boys an important and exciting time has come, and not only because of the diptych with Ajax.
European Championship on the horizon for three Young Boys
Swiss national coach Vladimir Petkovic will follow the upcoming duels in the Europa League with great interest, as the Alpine country is in preparation for the European Championship duels with Wales (June 12), Italy (June 16) and Turkey (June 20). Some players of the Ajax opponent can hope for a place in the final European Championship selection. “Von Ballmoos will be the third goalkeeper, that is almost certain. In addition, midfielder Christian Fassnacht has a good chance. He usually plays on the right wing. Michel Aebischer may also go to the European Championship. He is doing very well as a central midfielder. , which is not an easy position. They are probably the only three players who have a chance of a place in the European Championship selection, “predicts Kunz. The only 22-year-old center-back Cédric Zesiger does not have to count on a call from Petkovic, according to him. “He is still very young and has to develop further. At the moment he is not eligible for playing time in the national team”, is the judgment of the former youth international of Switzerland, who has the task on Thursday to control Dusan Tadic. to keep.