Cedric Iten on a personal level. All eyes will be on him in the semi-finals of the Basel-YB Cup.
“It couldn’t be better these two weeks,” says Cedric Iten. What he means by that: a hat-trick for YB against Basel in the Super League hitting (3-0), a subsequent call-up to the Swiss national team and two convincing first eleven performances against Belarus and Israel.
Itten has been making an impression lately. Even 1:2 against Servette at the weekend and thus only the second loss of the season for YB doesn’t change that.
In agreement with our name
The fact that the 26-year-old is the man of the hour in Swiss football also relates to the fact that he was able to seize the moment. Because in the feudal conquered YB attack, the usage minutes are not guaranteed at all. Itten has only started 9 of his 24 Premier League matches.
While his teammates were unable to convert their field advantage into goals against Basel for a long time, Etten did not hesitate after being substituted and scored his three goals in a very short period of time. And, unlike fellow striker Jean-Pierre Nesmi, he confidently scored from the penalty spot.
Ahead of the new edition against his young club in the cup semi-finals (this time in Basel), a comparison with Nesmi comes to mind. There are striking similarities:
- Eiten and Nasme top the Premier League’s top scorers list with 14 goals each. Itten takes 1359 minutes, and Nsame 1369. They both need an average of 98 minutes to score.
- Both score reliably against Basel: while Nsame has 10 goals from 17 matches (almost 59% percentage), Itten has 8 goals in 14 matches (57%).
When it comes to assists, Itten swings again. He made an assist 7 times in the tournament, and Nesmi came in fourth in the category. It is remarkable how much work the YB offense does, regardless of who acts in the center of the storm. Because of its versatility, Itten is also sometimes used as a hanging lace.
I have no explanations for this. It’s just.
“Of course every point scorer counts. But even when you start to take action, it has value,” says Iten. Just as he did perfectly with his side-footing on Ruben Vargas before Switzerland’s 2-0 win over Israel in Geneva.
Despite his outstanding record (he hasn’t scored more than once against any other Swiss club), Basel’s Etten doesn’t want to label Bayern his favorite opponent. “I don’t have an explanation for the many goals. It’s just that,” he says, hinting at any negative feelings because as a young Red-Blue player he had no real chance in the speculative world.
The finale in Wankdorf beckons
There is already enough banging in the FCB-YB title. Because the championship title is really just a formality for the Bernese, the cup (the final will be played in Wankdorf on June 4) is much more important. Or in Iten’s words: “It’s a knockout game, there’s only one thing: keep going.”
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