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Switzerland check: Afriyie is no longer a starter, while Adjetey's comeback goes down the drain
Although the Swiss league is definitely one of the smaller leagues in Europe, it is also recognized as a stepping stone to the really big leagues. Several players have laid the foundations for a great career in Europe's best leagues. But what about the Ghanaians who want to use the league as a springboard right now? A weekly insight.
Daniel Afriyie and Jonas Adjetey have had a hard weekend with their clubs
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The Black Stars goalie is living a hard life at the moment. He was the best goalkeeper in the league last season and his team was an unbeatable force at home. This season, especially in the second half of it, things are going really badly. In the eight games since Zigi's return from the AFCON, FC St. Gallen have picked up just four points and conceded 15 goals. Zigi also conceded another three last weekend against FC Lugano. He made a few good saves, but was a little unlucky when he conceded the second one. The goal was ultimately not his fault, but maybe a more energetic intervention could have prevented it.
Lawrence Ati-Zigi and his club are having a difficult time at the moment.
Pulse Ghana
Daniel Afriyie
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The 1.65 metre tall striker was a regular under coach Bo Henriksen. Since his departure to the Bundesliga in mid-February, however, Afriyie has lost this regular place. In the four games since the change of coach, he has only played 57 minutes. In FC Zurich's defeat against Yverdon last weekend, he was on the pitch for just one minute, during which time he did not make any notable appearances.
Daniel Afriyie has probably lost his regular place at FC Zurich.
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Jonas Adjetey
In recent weeks, the centre-back has been acclimatised to the first team FC Basel first team with appearances in the second team.
Last week, he made his second appearance for the "red and blue" this season - although under very unfortunate circumstances. When he was substituted for an injured team-mate, the score was already 3:0 in favour of BSC Young Boys. He struggled at the start, stumbling over a few balls and making a few bad passes. However, he is ultimately not to blame for the two further goals and the embarrassing 5:1 defeat.
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Jonas Adjetey in his second game of the season for fC Basel against BSC Young Boys
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Isaac Pappoe
The centre midfielder was loaned to the second-highest Swiss league last August from FC Ashdod in Israel. He has been a regular at FC Aarau since the beginning and has impressed with his performances.
In his team's poor performance against FC Schaffhausen last weekend (1:1), he once again played a strong game, even making a wonderful assist for the equaliser. The only two blemishes: at the start of the game he lost the ball badly. Later in the game, he found himself alone in front of the opposing goalkeeper, but missed the lead for his team with a poor shot on goal.
Isaac Pappoe is currently on loan from Israel to the Swiss second division. He is impressing there.
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David Acquah
The 1.92m tall center-back moved to Israel from Pudu Mighty Jet in 2019. He played for a total of three different clubs before becoming unemployed last August.
Since mid-February, Acquah is under contract with FC Aarau in the second-highest Swiss league. He was not in the squad for the first two games since his arrival.
Since then, he has always been in the squad, but is still waiting for his first appearance. This was also the case last weekend in his club's match against FC Schaffhausen.
David Acquah wants to relaunch his career at FC Aarau.
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Emmanuel Essiam
The center midfielder moved from Berekum Chelsea to FC Basel in January 2022. The 20-year-old, who is regarded as a great talent, has not yet been able to establish himself there and was loaned to Stade Lausanne-Ouchy, another Super League club, in September 2023. He played nine games for the newly promoted club before suffering a serious shoulder injury.
Essiam is currently undergoing recovery work following surgery. While he was said to be out for the rest of the season, it now starts to look good that Essiam will return this season. FC Basel did not remove him from the contingent list after the end of the transfer period. His return should therefore be expected in the coming weeks.
Emmanuel Essiam is expected back on the pitch this season.
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Musah Nuhu
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In August 2018, Nuhu made the leap from the West African Football Academy to Europe. At FC St. Gallen, where he is teammates with Ati-Zigi, he did not yet make his breakthrough.
In July 2022, he was loaned to Norwegian club KuPS for six months. His time in eastern Switzerland was also marked by numerous injuries, and in his five years at FC St. Gallen, he made just 39 appearances for the first team. So far this season, he has only made two appearances for the U21 team.
FC St. Gallen were said to be open to selling Nuhu to another club in this winter transfer period, but they didn’t find a buyer. Last weekend, he was neither in the first team squad nor in the second team.
It is very unlikeable whether Musah Nuhu will play for the FC St. Gallen first team again.
Pulse Ghana
Samuel Alabi
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The 23-year-old left Dreams FC for Israel in 2019 as an uprising star. Just one year after his arrival in the Middle East, he then moved to FC Lucerne in Switzerland's top division. He was never able to establish himself there and was loaned back to Israel for six months in 2022.
Last July, the attacking midfielder was loaned out to FC Baden in the second-highest Swiss league, but unfortunately injured his ACL after just four minutes. Since then he has been out with a torn cruciate ligament and is working on his return.
Samuel Alabi is currently recovering from a cruciate ligament rupture that he suffered at the start of the season.
Pulse Ghana
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