Published19. April 2024, 22:21
Football: Sion couldn’t dream of a better evening
By dominating Nyon less sparingly than the score indicates (1-0), the Valais club ideally launched its nine-day week. Especially since Thun lost.
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An important victory for Didier Tholot and the Sédunois.
Pascal Muller/freshfocus/archive
Three weeks ago in Colovray, Nyon and Sion separated in a Valais card (0-4), hardly reflecting what the evening had been like. While Fayulu had multiplied the saves, the first two goals were scored following two autogoals and Sion had to wait for the stupid expulsion of Gaillard (53rd), the Stade captain, to establish his domination and score twice in the game.
Faced with a Vaudois opponent who each time made life difficult during the first three derbies, the Tourbillon club had above all to assume its status as leader by finding the path to victory in front of its public, with the last three matches at home ended in as many failures (with one defeat and two draws snatched in the final seconds). But assuming his role as leader is exactly what this Sion did, imposing himself on the tiniest margin which says nothing of what his very clear domination was.
If the Valaisans have very opportunely rediscovered the taste of victory in front of their public, this is further supplemented by the clear setback of FC Thun, beaten at the same time 3-0 in Aarau. Here is Sion with a seven-point lead, once again a comfortable safety cushion before heading to the Stokhorn Arena on Monday for what will be the championship final. We know that the next week will finally culminate with the Cup semi-final against Lugano on April 27.
On the occasion of these highly anticipated French-speaking reunions, Didier Tholot, taking into account the upcoming deadlines, did not want to take any risk with his players threatened with suspension in Thun in the event of a new rusk. So the Sédunois coach, in order to manage the boxes as best as possible, has decided to rotate his squad, which is not his habit. Of the elements of the trio all likely to be deprived of the clash at the top in the event of a fourth warning, only Chouaref was finally started, Lavanchy and Berdayes taking place on the substitutes’ bench.
Bouchlarhem finds the post
This was also felt because if Sion certainly dominated, sometimes even copiously, the visitors, it experienced many difficulties in translating its influence on the scoreboard. After a free kick from Ziegler so worked that it almost surprised Omeragic (12th), we especially noted a deviation from Sorgic on which Bouchlarhem had to aim for the post, in this case more difficult to find than the empty cage that the attacker had wide open in front of him (24th). There was again this intervention from the Nyon goalkeeper forced to relax to deflect a Sorgic try with the tip of his glove. If he essentially put up a resistance that was as active as it was intelligent, Nyon created a few rare chances, the clearest being to Gomis’s credit (18th, too much cross shot after a breakthrough from 40m). Despite 9 corners to 0 and already 15 strikes, the Valais leader was still drying up at the break, failing to find the opening. At that point in the evening, the best news came from Brügglifeld, where Thun was already trailing 2-0 to its Aargau host.
Omeragic said no for a long time
At the restart, it took a prodigious relaxation from Omeragic to reach at the height of his line a point-blank header from Schmied heading towards the top corner (50th). Ten minutes later, the goalkeeper played tap dances on another try from Ziegler before doing it again in an acrobatic manner on the following action.
In order to force the decision, Tholot then decided to launch the very ones he would have liked to preserve. The deliverance came on the 15th corner when Sorgic, receiving a ball deflected by Chouaref at the near post, was able to control before turning around to score his 10th goal of the season. After having delayed the deadline for a long time, Omeragic could only admit defeat this time.
Nyon will then throw all its strength into the battle, even coming close to an equalizer that it would probably not have really deserved given the difference that appeared on the pitch. Sion couldn’t have dreamed of a better evening to launch this nine-day week which could see him take a decisive new step in 72 hours towards the Super League before, five days later, perhaps securing his ticket for a 15th final. Tourbillon will continue to experience emotions that its players know how to provoke.