FC Luzern In English

FC Luzern v FC Basel - 3:1

What a game!

On a perfect balmy Saturday summer evening, Basel came to town hoping to kickstart their miserable start to the season in front of another packed full crowd at the Allmend. Their new ridiculous looking dayglo pink away kit was making it's first appearance, and quite frankly Basel looked rather silly.

Strangely the Basel fans never entered the stadium until the ref was blowing the whistle to start the game. Apparently they'd sent a few of the more moronic members of their fan in to smash up the CCTV cameras in the away section. They did turn up just in time to see the magnificent choreo display from the home fans to celebrate 110 years of FC Luzern. The home fans were in a great mood and the early atmosphere picked up just as they'd left off from the last game away to Sion Merde Allez. Up in the "Club 100 section" the fans were making lots of noise as the sun shone brightly on Section C.  

On the pitch the Basel players were dressed in their silly pink kit, running about in the 30°c heat. Whoever thought of that one needs a good slap. It really seemed to suit Alex Frei though. Luzern lined up with an attacking 4-4-2 formation, but still without an obvious out and out striker up front. As usual Zibung was in goals with new signing from FC Zürich, 26yr old Florian Stahel making his debut at right-back. Central defender Tomislav Puljic was suspended following his sending off last week at Sion. So midfielder Renggli partnered Sally Sarr (SUPERSTAR!) in defence. Regular LB Claudio Lustenberger completed the back four. In midfield, Kukeli and Wiss were in the middle with Nello and Winter on the wings. Partnering Hakan up front was Hochstrasser.

The first moment of controversy was in 13 minutes when Basel's young next-best-thing, ladyboy-faced Xherdan Shaqiri tried some fancy footwork in the FCL box. Pursued by Claudio he strangely, embarrassingly fell over, clearly looking for a penalty. Get up you silly fool. The ref got it right, he waved play on and FC Basel fell to pieces. Luzern's first chance was a powerful 35 yard free kick from Renggli that Sommer parried away. After some smart play from Hochstrasser, Winter crossed to Ferreira in the middle who tucked the ball away for his first goal of the season in the 16th minute. 

Luzern were well on top of this match, with Basel clearly looking embarrassed by their daft pink shirts. They were pushing forward and added a second 5 minutes later when Hakan Yakin sent over a brilliant cross from the left hand side to Hochstrasser who controlled the ball and smashed it, with a helpful deflection off the ineffective Korean FCB full back, Park and beyond Sommer to put FCL 2-0 up after only 21 mins.

Up in the away cage, the meagre amount of fans that Basel brought thought it would be smart and clever to light some pyros and use them to burn a banner that had been stolen from SU-Town. Still though, we could hardly hear them as the FCL fans on all sides of the Allmend passionately cheered on their team. It was hot, muggy, the beer was flowing and we were two-nil up against the favourites for the league. Just Can't Beat That!

FC Basel never really looked like scoring but somehow Streller sneaked in, and headed the ball into the back of the net with what was probably Basel's first real chance in the 33rd minute. FCL had dominated the first half, and that was to be just a blip in the day's events. We would surely hold on to half time, wouldn't we?

Yes, of course we would. Luzern had the ball in the net again in 36mins when Sally Sarr (SUPERSTAR) bundled a Hakan free kick from the right flank into the net. From where we were stood it looked a dodgy decision, but TV highlights later proved the linesman got it right. Oh well, not to worry. FC Basel had been pretty shaky and Luzern were playing some lovely football.

At halftime the choreo was back in action and the atmosphere in B2/B3 was brilliant. Luzern was looking forward to another 45mins against a lackluster Basel team. At the back of our minds there was always the suggestion that FCB might come out fighting and find a way back into the game. They had players on the pitch who were capable of winning the game, and their manager, Thorsten Fink was bound to give them a bollocking a half time. But FCL started the second half, shooting towards the home end in much the same manner as the first half. 

Wave after wave of attacks on the FC Basel goal. Chance after chance. We were utterly dominating this game. Hakan came close to scoring with a powerful drive, Winter had a header saved by the goalie, Ferreira hit the post with a header. It was all Luzern. The team were playing brilliantly and the fans were doing their part by making lots of noise and singing non-stop. Every time we went forward we looked like another goal might be coming. Hakan was on form spraying passes about, Nello was full of running and effort. At the back Sally Sarr (SUPERSTAR) was playing with a confident calmness that had been missing in the Luzern defence last season.

The third FCL goal came in the 71st minute. A free kick was crossed into the box by Hochstrasser and Ferreira rose to head it in at the far post for his 2nd goal of the game. Basel simply were not in this game at all. For a good spell near the end of the game Luzern were showboating and confidently passing the ball about like Brazil, much to the delight of the crowd who cheered every pass. It had been an excellent team performance that had frustrated FCB. So much so that in the 84th minute Benjamin Huggel was booked twice in a minute for silly tackles and received a red card for his efforts.

Although FCL played brilliantly, it's still pretty clear that a potent striker needs to be signed before the end of the transfer window. Murat has his team playing lovely stuff. The defence is looking pretty solid and new signing Stahel had an impressive debut as right back. Zibung did well when called upon. The team is creating lots of chances, but seem to be needing a proper striker up top to convert the chances into goals.