Match Report Grasshoppers - Xamax

Less than 6000 spectators wanted to come see this match between two fairly
unsuccessful teams in rainy and fairly cold weather. After only about three
minutes, Tuerkyilmaz got the ball and provoked a free kick. The free kick was
unsuccessful, but on the following kickout, Esposito recovered the ball and
scored with a forceful shot from about 20m.

For the next 25 minutes, Xamax mostly had midfield control of the ball, but
too infrequently had scoring opportunities. The Grasshoppers, in contrast,
played much too passively again, but on the few occasions they got the ball,
they often launched quite effective counterattacks. On one of these, Xamax
goalie Delay slipped at the edge of the box while trying to get a long ball;
TUerkyilmaz won the duel against him and crossed to the middle, where Moldovan
got a header; however, Cyprien blocked his shot with an athletic defensive
header. A few minutes later, Tuerkyilmaz was fouled by Cyprien and Moldovan
scored the penalty.

For the last 15 minutes of the first half, Xamax was a bit groggy and GC had
several opportunities. On one occasion Moldovan after a multiple combination
with Tuerkyilmaz came into a good scoring position, but missed the goal. Delay
also showed some good reactions against shots by Thueler, as did Walker against
a shot by Wittl.

After halftime, the teams' attitudes seemed quite changed, with Xamax having
found its morale again, and GC dropping back into lethargy. In the 48th minute,
Isabella after a pass by Wittl and a doubious reaction by Walker lobbed the
ball over Walker, and Bernd Haas failed to save on the line.

Only a minute later, after a corner, Sandjak was in a better position than Mats
Gren and equalized with a header. Again, like against St. Gallen, the
Grasshopper's passivity when it in the lead seemed to get punished.

However, Xamax now compromised their own chances. First, Sandjak was given a
read card. Neither the TV camera nor Laurent or me caught the situation, but it
later turned out that he had spit at Mats Gren. A few minutes later,
Tuerkyilmaz was again fouled in the box; the referee gave a yellow card to the
Xamax player, and when he turned around again, Regis Rothenbuehler threw a
clump of dirt and grass at his back. The linesman saw the scene, and after a
short consultation with the referee, Rothenbuehler, too, got a red
card. Together with coach Gilbert Gress, who today had to sit out the first of
two suspensions for offending a referee, three important Xamax actors were off
the field. Moldovan scored again with the second penalty, and Xamax now had to
fight against a 3:2 with 9 against 11 players.

A few minutes later, Moldovan after a cross scored with a header from the
penalty point. With a decisive lead, GC now found it increasingly easy to
combine their way through the Xamax defense. Harald Gaemperle, playing his
first full game after a long injury, launched Tuerkyilmaz, who with a heel
trick placed the ball directly into the run of Gaemperle, allowing him to score
from just inside the box.

Tuerkyilmaz still was not tired yet, and in the 90th minute scored himself,
uncharacteristically for him with a header goal. To conclude, the replacement
players were successful in the 93rd minute, when Hakan Yakin scored after a
cross by Tikva.

Xamax remains in trouble after this result, while the Grasshoppers are moving
into a somewhat more favorable spot in the table. However, the team would do
well to remember the first five minutes of the second half and their message
that the GC defense this season is far from reliable so far, and that there is
never room for complacency.

Matthias

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Matthias Neeracher      http://www.iis.ee.ethz.ch/~neeri
   "No tame dog is gonna take my bone" -- Velvet Underground, _Coyote_