2014–15 FC Winterthur season: Difference between revisions

Content deleted Content added
added league standings
→‎Overview: added +refs
Line 31:
 
== Overview ==
The club's chairmann was Hannes W. Keller. It was his 14th and last season as club chairmann and he was in office longer than any club president before him.<ref name="nzz-2015-07-01">{{cite web | first = | last = Hansjörg Schifferli | authorlink = | coauthors = | date = 1 July 2015 | url = https://www.nzz.ch/sport/fussball/abgang-eines-eigenwilligen-1.18572840 | title = Abgang eines Eigenwilligen | format = | work = Departure of an idiosyncratic | publisher = Neue Zürcher Zeitung | accessdate = 2015-07-01}}</ref>
 
===Pre-season===
Line 39:
 
The three most prominent departures were that of 33-year-old Sawas Exouzidis, who could no longer find a place in the team that [[Jürgen Seeberger]] had massivly rejuvenated, [[Kristian Kuzmanovic]], who left the club to play for Vaduz after his father had been fired, and [[Marco Aratore]] who transferred to [[FC St. Gallen|St. Gallen]] in the top level of Swiss football.<ref name="sfl-homepage-summer 2014/15"></ref>
 
===First half of season===
The first half of the season started for Winterthur on July 21 2014 in the [[Stadion Schützenwiese|Schützenwiese]] with a home match against [[FC Wil]]. The capacity of the stadium had been reduced to approximately 5,000 spectators, due to the renovation of the opposite grandstand. The 4–0 win against Wil was the beginning of a first good third of the championship for the club. By the end of September, six of ten games had been ended victorious and only three had ended in a defeat. Winterthur was in second position in the table at that time, five points behind the surprise leader [[FC Wohlen]]. Subsiquently, however, the team slackened and only two more victories were achived before the winter break in the remaining eight games. The gap to the top of the table grew to 9 points and the club over wintered in 4th position. The team were along way from being a promotion candidate. Despite everything, the preliminary round was stronger than the previous season and this left a good impression of the coach. In the individual criticism captain [[Patrick Bengondo]] emerged best, because he was involved in each second goal.
 
===Second half of season===
In the second half of the season, Winterthur did bot start as well as in the first half of the season. The first six games after the winter break were an up and down with three wins, two defeats and one draw. However, the team collapsed after that and managed just one single point in the following six games. Although FCW was able to hold their table position despite this victoryless phase, the gap to the leader increased from 11 to 33 points and they lost all contact to the extended top group. The 14 points from the last six games didn't help to correct this slump either.
 
Winterthur finally finished the season with 53 points in 4th place, 21 points behind the division champions and promotion winners [[FC Lugano|Lugano]]. In the end, [[Der Landbote]] reported a "decent season" for the FCW, but once again missed the "necessary winner mentality". What was remarkable about the 2014–15 season was the home strength and at the same time away weakness of the team. While they were the second-best team in the "home" table, four points behind newly promoted Lugano, on the other hand they were the second-worst team in the league "away" table, with just one point more than the bottom of the table [[FC Biel-Bienne|Biel-Bienne]]. [[Servette FC|Servette]] did not obtain a license for the [[2015–16 Swiss Challenge League|2015-16 Challenge League]] season, due to the fact that they did not provide the necessary financial documents and guarantees. Servette was therefore relegated to the Promotion League. Because Servette had their license revoked [[FC Biel-Bienne|Biel-Bienne]] escaped relegation.<ref name="rsssf-Switzerland Challenge League 2014/15">{{cite web | first = | last = Karel Stokkermans | authorlink = | coauthors = | year = | url = http://www.rsssf.com/tablesz/zwit2015.html#challenge | title = Switzerland Challenge League 2014/15| publisher = Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation | accessdate = 2020-11-16}}</ref>
 
===Swiss Cup===
Winterthur entered into the [[2014–15 Swiss Cup]] on 23 August 2014 in an away game in the first round against lower tier FC Eschenbach. A tenth minute goal from youngster Mario Budimir put the team on the right track. However, Eschenbach equalised in the 68th minute and Winterthur had to increase the pace. Which they did and [[Tunahan Cicek]] and [[Amin Tighazoui]] both scored, so that the team could continue to the next round.
 
In the second round Winterthur were drawn at home to reigning Swiss Champions [[FC Basel|Basel]]. The match was played on 21 September in the [[Stadion Schützenwiese|Schützenwiese]] in front of a full capacity 5,050 spectators. After a short period of testing, in which the hosts kept up well, FCB took over dictation of the game. [[Mohamed Elneny]] brought his colors into the lead after half an hour with a remarkable drop kick from outside the penalty area. This was the start of a final phase of the first half in which the Basel team won the game. [[Breel Embolo]] scored twice before the break. After the break, he crowned his performance with his third personal goal, a beautiful lifting ball from a tight angle. This 4–0 also meant the final result. Basel's victory was deserved, but FC Winterthur also played a courageous game and would have deserved a goal for the good performance. The defense in front of Basel's goalkeeper [[Germano Vailati]] held things tight and so after the first half hour, there was no longer any doubt as to which of the two teams would reach the next round.<ref name="fcb-homepage-winterthur-fcb-2014-09-21">{{cite web | first = Caspar Marti| last = FC Basel 1893 | authorlink = | coauthors = | year = 21 September 2014 | url = https://www.fcb.ch/de-CH/News/2014/09/21/Winterthur-FCB | title = Der FCB Gewinnt in Winterthur souverän | format = | work = FCB wins confidently in Winterthur | publisher = FC Basel homepage| accessdate = 2014-09-21}}</ref>
 
FC Basel continued as far as the final, but here they were beaten by [[FC Sion]]. This was the 13th cup win for FC Sion in their 13th final.<ref name="rsssf-Switzerland Cup 2014/15">{{cite web | first = | last = Karel Stokkermans | authorlink = | coauthors = | year = | url = http://www.rsssf.com/tablesz/zwit2015.html#cup | title = Switzerland Cup 2014/15| publisher = Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation | accessdate = 2020-11-16}}</ref>
 
== Players ==