Vaudois derby: how the fog disrupted the match

Even if it means blowing smoke bombs, the Lausanne-Sport ultras would be doing Swiss football a favor by changing suppliers. The pre-match show by Lausanne supporters on Tuesday evening created a thick cloud around one of the two goals, pushing the referee to postpone the start of the match by five minutes. Last season, it was a quarter of an hour during a derby against Servette.

Every group of fans uses smoke bombs? All right. But those of the LS, flamboyant as they are, seem less volatile in the air. And therefore less conducive to the parallel holding of a football match. Hence the idea, really, of thinking about changing brands.

Since it was Halloween early at the Municipal Stadium, the Lausanne smoke blended into the decor quite well. An opaque bank of fog formed around Yverdon-les-Bains, pushing spectators to converge towards the enclosure in a rather gloomy atmosphere. There was never any question of postponing the derby between Yverdon Sport and Lausanne-Sport, or not for long, but it quickly became clear that everyone would have to adapt. On and off the field.

Part of the public only saw one goal

“We warmed up with normal balloons and other oranges. The referee decided that normals would do for the match. It’s true that on the ground, things were going well. We could see each other, we knew where our teammates were. Simply, we sometimes lost track of the goals,” breathed Antoine Bernede. Far from having lost his bearings, the midfielder himself gave Lausanne-Sport the advantage at the start of the second half of a match dominated from start to finish by his team (3- 0).

The fact remains that the players were unable to distinguish each portion of the field. Yverdon Sport did not use it at any time as an excuse to justify its very incomplete performance. The advantage for the Nord-Vaudois? The public has by far not seen all of the difficulties encountered by YS on the ground. In fact, the Greens supporters located behind the “city side” goal did not distinguish much of the three Lausanne goals, all scored on the opposite side of the field, except perhaps a few moving shadows in the distance. .

For many, they had to wait to find themselves in front of a screen for the replay at the end of the evening or the next day to become familiar with the major events of the game. Dexter Lembikisa’s post which could have turned the derby in the other direction at the end of the first period, Fousseni Diabaté’s splendid curling shot on the 2-0, the 4-0 ball missed by Alvyn Sanches, who left a match without scoring for the first time in four outings.

Comments: adjusted risk-taking

The lucky ticket holders in the side stands were able to observe all this live. Even if you often had to squint and trust your instincts to distinguish certain players. In comments for blue Sport, official broadcaster of the Swiss Football League, Nicolas Emmenegger confirms. “It’s in these moments that we realize the advantage we have of seeing these teams evolve every weekend. Even if I do not exclude the possibility that Morgan Poaty was once or another confused with Konrad de la Fuente, who both played on the left in Lausanne.

Like footballers on the field, the duo he formed with Claude Gross on the air adjusted risk-taking to the situation. “When we weren’t sure of the player, we avoided giving his name. It’s a little trick of commentators,” smiles the journalist, helped by the cameras placed at the edge of the pitch used to provide slow motion.

They also delighted viewers on their sofas, condemned for the rest to watch a match behind a screen full of fog which seemed to dissipate as the match progressed, before reappearing at the end of the game. Camouflaged in the veil of fog, the people of Yverdon were able to return home discreetly. Looking for answers: how to resist Lausanne-Sport this season?

Florian Vaney has been a journalist in the Sport-Center editorial team since 2019. Trained in the regional press, he closely follows Swiss football, from the “bank” divisions to the Super League.More info

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