Neuchatel Xamax Find Their Stride: Demhasaj’s Decisive Strike Lifts Xamax Past Étoile Carouge, Shaping Challenge League Race
The cool October air at Stade de la Fontenette on Friday evening carried with it a sense of urgency as Étoile Carouge, seeking redemption amid a stuttering campaign, welcomed Neuchatel Xamax FC—a side aiming to stake its claim among the Challenge League’s playoff hopefuls. Ninety minutes later, the narrative belonged to the visitors, whose 2-0 victory spoke of ruthless efficiency and growing ambition, while Carouge’s struggles deepened at a critical juncture of the season.
For Carouge, this game represented a chance to confirm September’s flickers of momentum as more than fleeting; instead, it became a cautionary tale of missed opportunity. Their opponents, Xamax, entered the fixture only marginally ahead in the standings but left with a widening gulf—now six points clear, perched fifth, and eyeing the upper echelons with measured confidence.
It was a contest shaped by brief spells of invention and decisive intervention rather than sustained flair. Early on, Carouge tried to assert home-field authority, moving the ball with purpose if not always with incision. The opening exchanges yielded half-chances: a probing run from Itaitinga here, an optimistic cross-field ball there, but little to trouble the well-drilled Xamax backline.
The match’s tone shifted in the 28th minute. It was then the deadlock was broken by Neuchatel’s pressing, which forced a turnover deep in midfield. The visitors surged forward with intent; a quick exchange of passes caught Carouge scrambling and, from a tight angle, a Xamax attacker slotted the ball crisply past the sprawling keeper—a finish that typified the visitors’ calculated approach and left the Fontenette crowd momentarily hushed.
Stung, Carouge pressed for an equalizer. Alves and Itaitinga attempted to spark life into Carouge’s play, but found their efforts repelled. Instead, it was Xamax who seized the moment. In the 37th minute, a counterattack of surgical precision found its focal point in Shkelqim Demhasaj, the striker who has rapidly established himself as Xamax’s talisman this season. Racing onto a perfectly weighted through-ball, Demhasaj rounded his marker and finished with the composure of a man in form. It was his fifth goal in as many games, an emphatic punctuation mark on a half that had increasingly tilted in the visitors’ favor.
Halftime approached with Carouge rattled, their recent 3-0 away triumph at Bellinzona fading quickly in memory. While Étoile had shown moments of promise in weeks prior—taking points off cup stalwarts Basel and recording convincing victories—consistency continues to elude them. Their inability to summon a response in the face of adversity was symptomatic of a team lacking both rhythm and conviction.
After the interval, Neuchatel Xamax reverted to pragmatism. They absorbed pressure and denied Carouge the space required to orchestrate a comeback. Demhasaj threatened a second on the break, while Xamax’s midfield anchored proceedings with a blend of physicality and composure. Save for a brief melee inside the Xamax penalty area, where Carouge’s appeals for a penalty were waved away, the home side rarely looked capable of shifting the narrative.
No red cards marred the contest, but the sense of a slow-burn frustration was palpable in the closing stages as Carouge’s play became increasingly ragged. Substitutes entered, fresh legs chased lost causes, yet the outcome rarely seemed in doubt. By the final whistle, the visitors’ bench greeted the result with quiet satisfaction—a result shaped as much by their defensive discipline as by moments of individual quality.
Contextually, this outcome marks a clear demarcation in the trajectories of these two sides. Étoile Carouge, sitting seventh with just eight points from nine games (two wins, two draws, five defeats), must confront the reality of a relegation-tinged struggle unless they find a spark. Their attacking verve has been too often intermittent, their resolve too easily tested.
Neuchatel Xamax, by contrast, are rediscovering the backbone that has defined their best campaigns. Four wins from nine, fourteen points, and now a positive head-to-head record against Carouge this season—having also taken a 2-1 victory in their August meeting—signal a team increasingly attuned to the demands of the league.
For Demhasaj, whose influence continues to grow, and a squad finding balance between resilience and incisiveness, Friday’s victory is more than three points—it is a statement. The upper half of the table is congested, but with results such as this, Xamax ensure their pursuit of promotion remains credible.
As the league campaign enters the winter grind, both teams face defining stretches. For Carouge, a recalibration is urgent if they are to avoid being left behind; for Xamax, the challenge is to sustain this upward curve and prove, week by week, that their ambitions are anchored in substance, not just hope. At the Fontenette, the night belonged to the visitors, and the story of October 17 was written in the language of momentum seized—and squandered.