Yverdon Sport FC - Grasshopper Club Zürich (01-07-2022)

 

After a day in Lausanne, I drive up to Yverdon-les-Bains, a small touristic town at the big Lac du Neuchatel. The local team, Yverdon Sport FC, is playing a midday friendly against Grasshopper Club Zürich, once the biggest club in Switzerland, which has recently come back from hard times.

 

Yverdon Sport is a modest team that usually plays in the third or second tier of Swiss professional football. Currently they play in the Swiss Challenger League, the second tier. This preseason friendly is played on a mild Friday afternoon at 3 PM.

 

Although the generic entrance costs a mere CHF 5 ($5), there are only some 150 people — some 50 come in during the game. They are mostly men, and there is some ethnic diversity.

 

The Stade Municipal is in the center of Yverdon-les-Bains, just behind the railway station. It is a cute, small, old ground with two small, relatively new stands on both long sides. The total capacity is 6,600 of which 1,000 are seats. It also has a restaurant with terrace that provides free WIFI! It is the perfect weather for a friendly: sunny with light breeze (20C).

 

The pitch looks great, and is real grass, while both teams play well but create few chances. The first real shot at goal is after almost half an hour, when a Grasshopper attacker is fouled just outside of the box and the free kick is shot low and not too hard at goal; an easy pick up for the goalie.

 

Unsurprisingly, given the lack of chances, it is 0-0 at half time. Still, the first half was actually quite entertaining, although the perfect weather and the excellent free WIFI definitely helped too.

 

The second half starts even more pedestrian and the many player changes don’t help either. There is barely any shot, let alone on goal. In the 67th minute, out of nowhere, a through ball gets behind the Grasshopper defense and a striker puts his toe to it and extends it into the far corner: 1-0.

 

 

In the 85the minute, after terrible defending, Grasshopper loses the ball at 30 meters from their goal and with three passes a striker goes at the goal and finishes hard and high: 2-0. After that Yverdon has one good counter and corner but the score remains 2-0.

 

Undoubtedly, my experience was influenced by the gorgeous weather, but I really enjoyed Yverdon Sport. A small but authentic ground with a bit of luxury (restaurant and WiFi) in the city. Better than all these fancy arenas in the periphery.