Young Boys 1-3 Monaco, att. 16,079
It should be every puerile English football fan's dream to see young boys at the wankdorf. Why the powers that be have chosen to rebrand it (since Euro 08) to the 'Stade du Suisse' I have no idea. It's now some hybrid shopping centre / footy stadium a la Basel. The same architects? Either way, the Wankdorf Center's outer skin has the soulless image of a large factory or multi-storey car park. It's simply a black box, with barely any insignia to show it is the home of one of Switzerland's most famous sides.
Inside, it slightly improves, in the home end, with a liberal sprinkling of yellow banners in the concourse courtesy of the Young Boys' ultras. The stadium is Picture Perfect, a slightly more upmarket version of Stadium:MK. It's a 2 tier fully encircling stadium with extra executive facilities on one side. Of course, this means it's all a bit characterless, despite rousing support from the ultras in the lower tier of the Ostkurve. |
| Welcome to .... |
It should be every puerile English football fan's dream to see young boys at the wankdorf. Why the powers that be have chosen to rebrand it (since Euro 08) to the 'Stade du Suisse' I have no idea. It's now some hybrid shopping centre / footy stadium a la Basel. The same architects? Either way, the Wankdorf Center's outer skin has the soulless image of a large factory or multi-storey car park. It's simply a black box, with barely any insignia to show it is the home of one of Switzerland's most famous sides.
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| Dull dull dull |
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| At least the souvenir van is a bit snazzy. |
I bought my match ticket at the Young Boys' club shop in the Wankdorf centre. I had a couple of hours to spare before check-in and I decided to scoot to the stadium. Easy as pie; one stop by rail from the main station. (Also easily accessible by tram number 9 from the city centre, 16 minutes.) I bought the cheapest available ticket (36 francs) which was a not particularly cheap £24. This entitled me to be in with the ultras. However, I pulled a cheeky one, saw one of the upper tier staircases wasn't guarded and went upstairs instead. An absolutely superb view, even considering the floor to roof netting behind the goal.
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| Space-age (but not in a good way). |
There was decent backing from the ultras, but not much elsewhere, save for a couple of call and responses (calls and response? calls and responses?) Where else would you get one lot chanting 'Young' and the rest chanting 'Boys!', save for public school. Still, as I say, it amused me. Pure puerile.
The other thing which threw me were the souvenir scarf sellers outside. You know the scarves: Half one team (the yellow and black of Young Boys), half the other (the red and white of Monaco). The sellers were all English scallies 'get yer souvenir scarves 10 Francs'. Was this a busman's holiday?Weren't they normally outside Man U / Chelsea / Liverpool etc etc Do they pick their games in Europe carefully? (ie, not Midtjlland v Apoel Nicosia tonite). Will they be at Red Bull Salzburg v Malmo FF tomorrow night?
Monaco sauntered to an easy win here, 1-3. Men v young boys? Young Boys missed a howler (a header right in front of goal) as well as the keeper making a double save from a break and a shot cannoning off a post. A minute or two later and Monaco went ahead (64th minute). A belter too. A right wing cross evaded everyone and the left back / left winger sized it up before hitting it on the volley with his left peg into the bottom left. 200 Monaco fans went mad, 150 of them stood behind their ultras banner. Who'd have thunk Monaco had ultras? I wondered about the economic make-up of the average Monaco ultra: are they the served or the serving class in the principality?
Carrillo then came on as a sub for Monaco and did more in a minute then any other forward on the pitch all game, flicking home a header from one in swinging free kick down the middle. Slack. The home fans understandably deflated, quietened. So without much home noise, the home side pulled one back 2 minutes later, The right back muscled his way through to the byline and pulled it back for Nuzzolo to tap home. Who says crowd support makes any difference?
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| Opening time at the Wankdorf |
Monaco sauntered to an easy win here, 1-3. Men v young boys? Young Boys missed a howler (a header right in front of goal) as well as the keeper making a double save from a break and a shot cannoning off a post. A minute or two later and Monaco went ahead (64th minute). A belter too. A right wing cross evaded everyone and the left back / left winger sized it up before hitting it on the volley with his left peg into the bottom left. 200 Monaco fans went mad, 150 of them stood behind their ultras banner. Who'd have thunk Monaco had ultras? I wondered about the economic make-up of the average Monaco ultra: are they the served or the serving class in the principality?
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| The teams are coming, the flags are waving. |
Carrillo then came on as a sub for Monaco and did more in a minute then any other forward on the pitch all game, flicking home a header from one in swinging free kick down the middle. Slack. The home fans understandably deflated, quietened. So without much home noise, the home side pulled one back 2 minutes later, The right back muscled his way through to the byline and pulled it back for Nuzzolo to tap home. Who says crowd support makes any difference?
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| The 'Exec' side. (Works out Geography...South Stand?) |
To prove the point, with the Young Boys in full voice, sensing hope, Monaco simply run down the other end, a midfielder cuts inside onto his left and rifles the ball into the roof of the net from the edge of the box. From where I was it looked like Young Boys were determined NOT to get in the way of it. From a game that was scoreless after an hour it was a golf fest but Young Boys will be kicking themselves they missed easier chances than Monaco scored.
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| Proof |
Crowd: 16,079
The Damage:
36 CHF (entry)
5 CHF (badge)
=41 CHF (£28)
The Tunes:
Songs in A&E - Spiritualized
Lazer Guided Melodies - Spiritualized
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| What's the time, Mr Wolf? |
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| Young Boys' ultras and their flags |
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| The home end (Ostkurve) |
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| The teams come out |
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| Monaco ultras |
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| The Exec Side. |
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| Match action. |
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| Full time. |
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