The Superliga clubs continue to hold their own in the Cup. Winterthur saved themselves in a penalty shoot-out in Wil, YB were only just punished for letting up in Vevey, while St. Gallen continued to struggle in Ticino.
Matteo Di Giusto gave FC Winterthur an early lead in the 2nd Cup round at Challenge League underdogs St. Gallen, but Simone Rapp equalized for the hosts after an hour and Aaron Appiah made it 2-1 for Wil in the 104th minute when Winterthur goalkeeper Stefanos Kapino and defender Granit Lekaj got in each other's way while defending. It was not until the 117th minute that Remo Arnold saved the visitors from a penalty shoot-out.
Kapino saved the attempts of Jason Parente and Ruben Dantas, while all the Winterthur players scored. Fabian Frei set up both of Winterthur's goals in regular time on his debut and also kept his nerve in the penalty shoot-out.
Young Boys opened the scoring after half an hour against Promotion League opponents Vevey-Sports with a double strike from Alan Virginius and Cedric Itten, but then, probably with an eye on Tuesday's Champions League match at Aston Villa, took it a little too easy, allowing the hosts to equalize in the second half through double goalscorer Ilyas Chaïbi (53rd/74th minute). It was not until Darian Males made it 3:2 in the 82nd minute that the top-flight side finally won the game.
St. Gallen break into a sweat in Ticino
Almost an hour had been played on Lake Lugano when Christian Witzig gave St. Gallen the lead for the first time. Prior to that, the ambitious Promotion League club Paradiso had made the eastern Swiss team sweat a lot. It took Evan Rossier, who arrived from Lausanne, just five minutes to put the underdogs in front, before Albert Vallci equalized after 20 minutes with St. Gallen's first chance.
Both before and after the 2:1, goalkeeper Lawrence Ati-Zigi, who was somewhat surprisingly preferred to St. Gallen's usual cup goalkeeper Lukas Watkowiak, had to intervene decisively. In the end, however, the team from eastern Switzerland avoided the embarrassment of last year in Delsberg. Three minutes before the end, substitute Kevin Csoboth scored the winner.
FCZ, Lugano and Lausanne also survive
Like Young Boys and St. Gallen, as well as Grasshoppers, Sion and Yverdon the day before, FC Zurich, Lugano and Lausanne-Sport also held their own against lower-class opponents. Zurich won 3-0 at second-division side Le Communal Sport Le Locle, while Lugano, who have reached the cup final three times in a row, won 3-1 at last year's Yverdon conquerors Rapperswil-Jona from the Promotion League and Lausanne-Sport 4-0 at Bernese second-division side Aemme.
Ifeanyi Mathew, Antonio Marchesano and Umeh Emmanuel scored for FCZ in the second half, Milton Valenzuela, Daniel dos Santos and Mattia Bottani for Lugano, before Merlin Hadzi scored the consolation goal for Rapperswil-Jona. Teddy Okou and Karim Sow each scored twice for Lausanne-Sport.
Stade Lausanne-Ouchy still in the doldrums
The biggest surprise of the 2nd round so far has been Stade Lausanne-Ouchy's elimination. After a disappointing start to the championship, the relegated Challenge League side also failed to get back on track in the cup. The Vaud side went down 1-0 to first division side Langenthal, with former Grasshopper Amel Rustemoski scoring the only goal for the Bernese side in the 2nd minute.
Brief telegrams and results
Paradiso (PL) - St. Gallen 1:3 (1:1). - SR Gianforte. - Goals: 5 Rossier 1:0. 21 Vallci 1:1. 56 Witzig 1:2. 87 Csoboth 1:3.
Rapperswil-Jona (PL) - Lugano 1:3 (0:0). - SR Turkes. - Goals: 52. Valenzuela 0:1. 58. Dos Santos 0:2. 74. Bottani 0:3. 78. Hadzi 1:3.
Aemme BE (2nd) - Lausanne-Sport 0:4 (0:1). - SR Horisberger. - Goals: 1. Okou 0:1. 62. Sow 0:2. 73. Sow 0:3. 75. Okou 0:4.
Vevey-Sports (PL) - Young Boys 2:4 (0:2). - SR Huwiler. - Goals: 30. Virginius 0:1. 32. Itten 0:2. 53. Chaïbi 1:2. 74. Chaïbi 2:2. 82. Males 2:3. 93. Elia 2:4.
Langenthal (1st) - Stade Lausanne-Ouchy 1:0 (1:0). - SR Grundbacher. - Goal: 2nd Rustemoski 1:0.
Le Communal Sport Le Locle (2nd) - Zurich 0:3 (0:0). - SR Tschudi. - Goals: 52nd Mathew 0:1. 65th Marchesano 0:2. 70th Emmanuel 0:3.
Wil - Winterthur 2:2 (1:1, 0:1) n.V.; Winterthur 4:2 winner on penalties. - Referee Fähndrich. - Goals: 10. Di Giusto 0:1. 64. Rapp 1:1. 104. Appiah 2:1. 117. Arnold 2:2. - Penalty shoot-out: Ndau 1:0, Lekaj 1:1; Barente - (Kapino holds), Frei 1:2; Zinna 2:2, Arnold 2:3; Dantas (Kapino holds), Baroan 2:4.