Servette hosts Chelsea on Thursday in a full stadium. Just that sentence is a real joy. But let’s keep our feet on the ground after a fantastic European season last year.
The hope of experiencing this again this year was very strong even if we know that last year it was quite an achievement and that it will not happen every season.
Not much luck in the draws, since we have each time drawn the strongest possible team. Servette probably let their chance slip away against Braga, the next stage seems insurmountable with a huge ogre by the name of Chelsea.
Chelsea is the complete opposite of Servette. Business football, huge budgets, gigantic transfers. This club is capable of putting 4 times more money into a player than all the money we have already put into all the transfers for 20 years. For us, it is passionate and family football, respect for our players, we do not have 35 substitutes on the bench. With us, confirmed players do not yo-yo between the first and second teams. And when some leave us, it is always sad to see them go. It is a different attachment and I much prefer my passion, to the footix version of football. Slightly mocking, some have been able to notice on social networks, how some Chelsea supporters did not hesitate to have no consideration for Servette.
Despite this, Servette had a great match in London, 22 shots to 14, 6 on target to 7, one shot on the crossbar and XG 1.83 to 2.02. This shows that despite a tiny budget, Servette competed with the English ogre. The difference was made on a loss of the ball which led to a penalty. And for the second goal, it’s hard to blame the defense, the timing between the pass and the attacker’s run is just perfect. He is launched and aligned with the defense at the moment of the pass. As for his finish, it left no room for doubt. But the difference is also caused by ourselves, because we did not manage to put one or two of our many chances in the back of the net.
How to approach Thursday’s patch?
We have two goals to catch up but a stadium that will be on fire. We will have to score quickly so that the fire turns into fusion. But we must not throw ourselves unconsciously otherwise the punishment will be quick, and the fire will cool down.
A real dilemma for our coach. Playing with Ondoua and Douline really allows for a compact and very effective midfield, but it leaves the attacker too isolated to be able to put her in the back of the net. Should we play with Antunes instead of Douline? We’ll see what the approach will be.
Some will say that we won’t be able to come back from two goals down anyway, so the most important thing is that the party is great regardless of the result. But I want to believe in it. I want this match to be historic, not just because of the opponent, nor because the stadium will be full (they even moved the separation barriers to open up as many seats as possible, which wasn’t the case last season). But I want it to be historic, because we can either achieve the feat of knocking out Chelsea or achieve a very good performance with a win or a draw.
Our chance may lie in this 2-0 in the first leg. We know that 2-0 is the score that is treated par excellence and often 2-0s turn into 2-3s. So why not? We know that for Chelsea the Conference League is worthless. A qualification represents financially what a Premier League match at home brings in in TV rights and ticket sales. There is a strong chance that the coach will not put his most important players on the pitch, preferring to spare them for the championship. See also to do trials, even if, we agree, Chelsea’s second knives would be starting players in practically all European teams. But for us, it is really the opportunity to dare to go there and believe in our chances.
So dear Garnet players, blow everything up, transform this stadium into a volcano, because it will only take a spark for this match to tip into the most complete euphoria.
In any case, even if our adventure ended there, this experience will have made our club and our players grow. All of this is a bonus for us, in the league or in the cup. Being able to surpass ourselves, for key matches in a season, is extremely important.
So here we are, looking forward to Thursday, looking forward to seeing the match sheet, looking forward to taking my place in the stadium, I am dying to wait. And if our Servette were to pull off THE match of its history then I think the night will be long and the happiness indescribable.
When I think about it, if 5 years ago someone had told me that I would go to see Servette-Chelsea on Thursday, I would not have believed it. Which shows that Servette has reached a great milestone, because after Rangers and Roma, it seems almost “normal”. Just saying that, it seems impossible.
So Thank you Servette and above all GO Servette!!! Create trouble, overturn the blue mountain. Impossible is not garnet!
By Steve
