Dominating is not winning

The context

D-Day for Les Verts! After seven weeks of preparation, including two training camps and five contrasting test matches, the Ligérien squad are back in action. Eirik Horneland and his new-look squad will be humbled by Ligue 2 Matchday 1, as they take on a Lavallois side who have made the playoffs regularly in recent seasons.

The line-up

In front of Gautier Larsonneur, Eirik Horneland will be relying on an unprecedented defense made up of Dennis Appiah and Ebenezer Annan on the flanks, and Chico Lamba and Mickaël Nadé in the center. In midfield, young Luan Gadegbeku will play his first professional match alongside Florian Tardieu and Aïmen Moueffek. Up front, Irvin Cardona, Augustine Boakye and Ben Old will come up against the opposing defense.

👥 Les XI Verts pour lancer cette saison ! 💚#LAVALASSE, coup d’envoi dans une heure pile ! 🔜 pic.twitter.com/uE4rWFDDW2

— AS Saint-Étienne (@ASSEofficiel) August 9, 2025

Le match

In a nearly-full Francis-le-Basser stadium, Les Verts got their foot on the ball first, and got off to a much better start than the hosts. Irvin Cardona created the first opportunity. From the edge of the box, his shot was just wide of Samassa's goal (4th). From inside the box, Augustine Boakye slipped the ball to Dennis Appiah, who projected himself but saw his effort deflected for a corner (10th). With characteristic dedication, Aïmen Moueffek broke through the Tango lines, passing the ball to Augustine Boakye, who extended it to Ben Old. The New Zealand international took his chance on the volley, but his attempt, too centred, was blocked (11th). Against the run of play and from their very first situation, the home side opened the scoring thanks to an unstoppable header from Tchokounté after a good cross (Laval 1-0 ASSE, 16th). Although the game calmed down for a few moments, while Les Verts recovered their composure, things began to speed up around the half-hour mark. Following another projection by Aïmen Moueffek, Irvin Cardona picked up the ball and sent it into the top-right corner to equalize (Laval 1-1 ASSE, 27th). Then, after another throw-in from the Moroccan midfielder and a cross back from him, Augustine Boakye took his chance with his left foot and placed the ball just inside the post to take the lead (Laval 1-2 ASSE, 35th).Realistic, Lavallois didn't miss the chance to level the scores when Kokolo won a penalty, which Tchokounté converted (Laval 2-2 ASSE, 41st). At the end of a dominated half, Les Verts returned to the dressing room frustrated.

After the break, the hosts had the first two chances, but it was Ben Old, set up by Augustine Boakye, who put the visitors in the lead. From a difficult angle, his perfectly weighted shot put Les Verts back in front (Laval 2-3 ASSE, 51st). After several changes, Les Verts continued to create chances. But shots from Augustine Boakye (69th) and Joao Ferreira (76th) were either too easy or too wide. Les Verts were left to rue these situations, especially as the home side were so fortunate to find an equaliser through Clavreul, who happily parried a corner clearance towards goal (Laval 3-3 ASSE, 87th). Zuriko Davitashvili's last-ditch effort was cleared off the box in injury time. Although Pellenard saw red for a second yellow card, the resulting free-kick unfortunately came to nothing for Les Verts, who had to be content with a draw on this first day of Ligue 2 BKT season 25-26.

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Une publication partagée par AS Saint-Étienne (@asseofficiel)

Next

Next Saturday, over 30,000 fans (including 20,000 season ticket holders) are expected in the Chaudron to kick off the 25-26 season at home. Rodez will face Eirik Horneland's men on the second day of Ligue 2 BKT.

> My ticket for ASSE - Rodez