The Swiss Cup ends there for Yverdon Sport. In the round of 16, the Nord-Vaudois lost 0-2 against Lugano.
What a sad start to the evening at the Municipal Stadium. In the cold of this Wednesday in December, only a few courageous people (around a thousand according to the announcer) made the trip, leaving the stands very empty.
On the pitch, Alessandro Mangiarratti decided to shake up his team a little compared to the match against Lucerne on Saturday. With a change in front of the cage since we found there, as for the other Cup matches, Kevin Martin. “It made me happy that I was trusted for this match despite the fact that I haven’t played a high-stakes match for a while,” the goalkeeper confided to us.
Towards a remake of last Saturday?
At kick-off, Yverdon and Lugano took their time getting into the match. However, the dynamic was quickly established. It was the Ticinese who, most often, went in front of Kevin Martin’s goal, while the Yverdonois defended. Successfully in the first half, it must be admitted.
We had to wait 25 minutes to see a first Yverdon attempt, after a corner. However, one would have thought that with this cold, the players would prefer to work harder. The Nord-Vaudois had another good shot about ten minutes later, stopped by the Luganais goalkeeper. But, results at the break: the green and whites saved more balls than they shot.
Poorly paid 2nd half
Yverdon regained momentum in the second half. And we found a little bit of the team that had made the Municipal Stadium a little fortress. Like this action initiated by the great battle of Mitchy Ntelo and Dion Kacuri, on the line, to keep the ball in play. This then offered a great strike to Mauro Rodrigues who crashed into the far post. Franco Gonzalez tried to recover the ball but he was hampered by Mattia Zanotti.
In the process, Gonzalez served a magnificent cross to Moussa Baradji who unfortunately decided to take the ball with his foot and sent it flying over the cage (55th).
The Yverdonnois could still have opened the scoring in the 63rd after this run from Rodrigues and this escape from Ntelo. The attacker broke away from the goalkeeper but ultimately only found the post.
Lugano waited patiently, and ended up finding the fault in the 76th minute. Zanotti’s shot was perfectly deflected into the goal by Hadj Mahmoud. The people of Ticino, who instantly knew what this goal meant, went to celebrate with the hundred or so supporters who made the trip to the Municipal.
Zanotti (again) finished the job just minutes from the final whistle. The right-back did everything on his own to send the ball into the back of the goal and put them in the quarter-finals.
Positive
Yverdon Sport therefore finds itself eliminated from the Swiss Cup. Given these opportunities in the second half, the Nord-Vaudois may have regrets. But at the time of the interviews, William LePogam still sees the glass half full. “We did much better than against Lucerne,” analyzes the Yverdon captain. We found ourselves in all compartments, even if we could do better offensively. It’s frustrating but it’s a great team, we fought within our means and I think we weren’t ridiculous.”
This YS had in fact nothing to do with that of last Saturday. The captain prefers to forget this match, calling it “the saddest performance at home since I was at the club”. So this Wednesday, what happened in the minds of the Nord-Vaudois?
Ultimately, this defeat against Lugano hurts a little less than that against Lucerne. “Yes, we can say that like that”, smiles LePogam before letting go: “but it’s still a defeat, it annoys us because we would like to break this negative series.”
The Swiss Cup can be a good way to get back on track for a team that is having a bad time in the championship. Do the people of Yverdon feel like they have missed an opportunity to get a breath of fresh air?
On Saturday, Yverdon travels to Zurich to face Grasshopper, a direct competitor. “We will have to repeat today’s performance or that of St-Gall where we put a lot of desire and passion. Be a little more offensive, keep the ball more, be more courageous. It’s a mix of a bit of everything,” announces the captain of YS. Kick-off Saturday at 6 p.m.
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