Jordan Pefok showed once again why he is the U.S. men’s national team’s most in-form striker as he scored twice for Young Boys in an exciting draw against St. Gallen.
St. Gallen 3-3 Young Boys
Young Boys were in a commanding lead but somehow could not hold on as they allowed St. Gallen to come back to save a point in a thriller at Kybunpark.
Jordan Pefok had a strong outing on the day as he completed 68 percent of his passes and won five duels along with taking three shots.
Retaining the league title may be out of the question now as they lie 10 points behind leaders FC Zurich, but the capital team is still in a battle for a European place with four other teams.
It was back-and-forth in the early stages of the game as both teams looked to gain an advantage. The visitors had a scare in the 12th minute when it appeared that center-back Cedric Zesiger had handled the ball in the area. However, after a review from the video assistant referee, it was overturned.
Young Boys then broke the scoreless deadlock in the 25th minute when Fabian Rieder intercepted the ball and lobbed it into the path of Christian Fassnacht to put past St. Gallen goalkeeper Lawrence Ati Zigi.
The host went on the attack to level the score, but Pefok doubled his team’s lead in the 44th minute. Fassnacht headed a lofted pass in the area and the American would sneak past an unaware St. Gallen backline to collect the ball and slot his shot home.
Pefok scored his second, and 13th league goal of the season, in the 50th minute when Fassnacht sent a cross from the right and the No. 17 did well to track and head into the back of the net.
He was on fire in this game and thought he had put the game out of reach when scored a third in the 54th minute, but it was ruled out as the referee called a handball.
A 3-0 scoreline would spell doom for a team. However, the host fought tooth and nail to get back into the game.
Kwadwo Duah cut the deficit in the 61st minute when he ran onto a through-ball deep their own end to put the ball past Young Boys’ goalkeeper Anthony Racioppi.
The hosts were given further hope in the 85th minute when Alessio Besio put away a shot that hit the inside of the post before crossing the goal line.
Young Boys’ head coach David Wagner was desperate to hold on to the three points, but his personnel changes late in the game did nothing to stop St. Galllen’s momentum as they scored the equalizer in stoppage time. Duah volleyed shot should have been stopped by Racioppi, but he fumbled the ball and couldn’t recover in time as it crossed the line.
Young Boys remains in third place in the standings with 36 points.
