Defensive midfielder Muhamed Demiri took part in Wednesday’s friendly between St. Gallen and Wacker Innsbruck, finally returning to action after a lengthy injury.

With much of the European leagues on break due to the international break, a number of teams will play friendlies in the coming week to keep the players that were not called up by their respective national teams fit.  One such team is St. Gallen who played a friendly against Austrian side Wacker Innsbruck on Wedensday.  The friendly marked the return of midfielder Muhamed Demiri, a player who has been sidelined for the past couple of months with a meniscus injury.

Demiri played the opening 45 minutes before he was substituted at the start of the 2nd half by Marcel Stevic.  St. Gallen lost 0:2, conceding a goal in each half.  Regardless of the result, the positive is that Demiri has finally recovered to return to game action.  Muhamed will work on building up his fitness over the next week, and then should make his debut when league play resumes after the international break.

This also means that Demiri will be available to manager Chedomir Janevski for the two October qualifiers to close the 2014 World Cup qualifications.  Demiri plays defensive midfield, one of the most problematic positions on the national team with a lack of depth.  The current two starters there are Ostoja Stjepanovikj and Nikola Gligorov.

For his last club Thun, Demiri, besides defensive midfield, also filled in at left back when needed as well.  Muhamed joined St. Gallen earlier in the summer on a free transfer after his contract expired with Thun.