On a sunny and warm Saturday in Sochaux, Auxerre faced off against Sochaux in an amicable match with over 7,000 supporters present. The team from Dijon started strong but were eventually held to a draw (1-1) at the final whistle. While both teams are not yet fully prepared for their upcoming matches, Sochaux returns to L2 next weekend facing Saint-Étienne on Saturday, August 8 at 8:45 PM, whereas Auxerre will travel to Lens three weeks later on August 22.
Diomandé Injured, First Appearance for Labeau-Lascary
Vincent Hognon's team struggled with defensive and technical errors during the first half. Weakened by poor back passes, miscommunications, and technical mistakes, Auxerre had a weak performance. Sochaux capitalized on this to open the scoring via Benjamin Gomel's precise shot (20th minute). Already short of Romain Faivre and Sekou Fofana due to injury, Auxerre started without Sinaly Diomandé who was injured just before halftime. Warned at the 39th minute for showing frustration towards the fourth official, Will Still may have also complained in the dressing room as his players showed a different face thereafter.
Aristide Zossou performed an impressive run-up and shot repelled by Mehdi Jeannin (52nd minute), but the score remained unchanged until halftime. That's when Vincent Hognon made significant changes to his lineup, with the first appearances of new signings Xiangxin Wei and Rémy Labeau-Lascary. Auxerre then equalized via a header from Mamadou Cissokho, who was found by Tidiane Devernois on a corner (1-1, 90th + 1 minute).
Next week, Auxerre will continue their preparation by hosting Troyes at the Abbé-Deschamps stadium on Saturday at 6 PM. Sochaux can now taste its return to L2 after three years.
