Dwell ticker: FC St.Gallen meets FC Tobol within the Convention League qualifier

The Jap Switzerland group performed in Europe for the primary time in 4 years on Thursday evening. So the expectations earlier than FC St.Gallen’s debut on the worldwide stage have been enormous. And the 11,383 followers within the stadium in St.Gallen weren’t upset.

FCSG gained the match towards FC Tobol Kostanay of Kazakhstan 4-1. Which means that Jap Switzerland will journey to Kazakhstan with a giant cushion, the place the second leg will happen subsequent Thursday. They’re now favorites towards Tobol. The Kazakhs confirmed good offensive strikes, particularly within the first half, however didn’t all the time look sturdy in protection.

All of a sudden St.Gallen is behind

The sport began promisingly. After Espen coach Enno Maassen’s announcement that they’ll hold the offensive path towards FC Tobol Kostanay, which was already proven within the first match towards Winterthur, the gamers on the sector continued.

They regarded for a approach ahead early and created their first probabilities. Nevertheless, Geubbels was denied twice by goalkeeper Tobol Pokatilov. Within the twenty eighth minute, Tobol’s striker, Ivanovic, lastly got here dangerously in entrance of the objective. Sadly his shot was deflected into his personal objective by FCSG central defender Vallci.

All of a sudden the Tree was behind them, however that did not appear to hassle them. Inside 5 minutes they turned the sport round with objectives from Stevanovic and Akolo. The second objective was particularly useful. Schmidt brilliantly mixed Thoma by means of the Kazakh protection and crossed the ball to Akolo, who simply tapped in.

Aspens put extra late

At first of the second half, the Kazakhs entered the sport slightly higher, however they didn’t know what to do with the ball. The St.Gallen group additionally couldn’t create good probabilities. It stayed 2-1 for a very long time – till the 77th minute.

Once more, the Espen got here collectively strongly by means of the Kazakh line of defense, Mambimbi handed again to Thoma, who hit the far nook. Because of this, the St.Gallen group didn’t let something occur and created a couple of promising alternatives, which they left unused. With the final motion Albert Vallci additionally scored a objective. He was answerable for the ultimate rating of 4-1 with a header from a nook.

It is a sense of feat for FC St.Gallen, which mustn’t solely give them confidence forward of the second leg on Thursday, but additionally give them a lift forward of the league check of power with YB on Sunday.