Championnat

A weekly North American review of French Football. Ligue 1, Champions League, and UEFA Cup action.

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

A Quick Plug

My associate Jerrad and I have conspired to bring to you a podcast covering the world of football from a North American perspective. Entitled "From The Spot", we sit down each week for a little chat about the world of international football. So for a bit of fun listening on your morning Jog or drive to work, join us. We can be found at http://fromthespot.libsyn.com, with the podcast subscription to be found at http://fromthespot.libsyn.com/rss. Hope to hear all your feedback soon!

Sunday, October 29, 2006

Week of October 23 - 30

SCORES
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Coupe de la Ligue

October 24

Nancy 2-1 Toulouse
Le Mans 3-1 Lens
Sochaux 5-0 Dijon
Riems 0-0 Monaco (4-3 pen.)
Lille 0-2 Rennes

October 25

St. Etienne 4-1 Marseille
Auxerre 0-1 Bordeaux
Lyon 2-1 Paris SG

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Ligue 1

October 28

Bordeaux 3-1 Sedan
Le Mans 1-1 Lille
Lens 1-0 Auxerre
Lorient 1-0 Valenciennes
Nantes 1-0 Monaco
PSG 1-0 Rennes
Toulouse 1-2 Sochaux
Troyes 3-1 St. Etienne

October 29

Nice 2-1 Marseille
Lyon 1-0 Nancy

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An eventful midweek in France as the Coupe de la Ligue competition resumed. Tuesday's matches booked Nancy, Le Mans, Sochaux, Riems, and Rennes places in the Quarter-Finals on December 19th. Monaco's loss on penalties was particularly notable, as they had just sacked manager Laszlo Boloni after the weekend loss, and replaced him with his assistant Laurent Banide. Sochaux absolutely dominated Dijon and thrashed them five-nil. Also of note is the Lille - Rennes match, which saw Lille reduced to 10 men in Ninety Seventh minute, and then Rennes scoring with replacements Sow and Marveaux at '103 and '112 respectively.

On Wednesday Marseille's fortunes continued to decline as they bowed out of the cup to St. Etienne by the same 4-1 scoreline as they did on the weekend. Les Verts scored two before halftime to put an early stranglehold on the match, and it was all downhill for Marseille from there, save for the lone goal which came on a penalty courtesy of Mickaël Pagis.

Wednesday also saw Bordeaux dispatch Auxerre, edging them with a goal. Bordeaux snaps a two-match losing streak and Auxerre's fortunes continue to decline. Jean-Claude Darcheville scored the only goal for the visitors in the 23rd minute.

The marquee match of the day saw Olympique Lyonnais meet up with PSG at the Stade Gerland. Paulo Cesar struck first on a penalty in the 58th minute for PSG, but two goals by Sylvain Wiltord in the last two minutes of play sealed the deal for the home side. Lyon continues to be unstoppable, even without the bulk of their star players on the pitch.

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Bordeaux went into their match with Sedan Saturday with a 5-5 record, and were looking to improve their Ligue 1 form. Bordeaux had been struggling through the first part of the season after finishing second in the table last year, although a promising League Cup victory over the week lifted them somewhat. Sedan came in with two first team players injured and a 1-5-4 record, desperate for a win. The away side struck first, and early, but it was to no avail, as Bordeaux dominated the rest of the match, winning 3-1, and sealing the deal in the 53rd minute on a Darcheville penalty.

Le Mans and Lille faced off for with the home side needing the win to put them in the top half of the table. Lille came into the week in a healthy 5th place, but would have most likely wanted the weekend off to prepare for their Champions League away match at AEK Athens. A win in Athens would virtually guarantee Lille a place in the Final 16 of the Champions League. All the scoring in this one happened in the first 15 minutes, with Lille's Kieta scoring 4 minutes in, and Le Mans responding 9 minutes later. A stalemate result as neither team improves their domestic fortunes.

Lens continued their good form with a win against Auxerre at the Stade Felix-Bollaert. Auxerre pressed well, trying to salvage a draw after Demont scored in the 62nd minute. Unfortunately for them, the cobwebs on Lens' net remained intact, and they fell 1 goal to nothing.

Lorient played leapfrog with Valenciennes Saturday as a 1-0 home win placed them at 10th in the table. Newly promoted Lorient has little to be upset about heading into November, with their form improving. The match was uneven from the start with Lorient going down to 10 men in the 24th minute, but a goal by Rafik Saifi was enough. The field was evened out in the 67th minute as Valenciennes was red carded as well.

It was the end of a horrible week for Monaco as they were lucky to get out of Nantes only one goal down. It was a battle at the bottom of the table, with Nantes prevailing and lifting themselves out of the depths. Monaco's fortunes continue to decline, as they fired their manager earlier in the week, followed by an embarrassing cup exit at the hands of lowly Ligue 2 side Riems. Monaco also did without the services of Jan Koller, who was injured in the Riems match, and the news is that he will be out for at least six weeks. Nanes absolutely assaulted the Monaco net with a total of 26 shots, 8 of which were on goal. Monaco only managed 4 in the entire match. Final scoreline : Nantes 1-0 Monaco

PSG needed a win to lift their fortunes, and they got one at home against Rennes, winning 1-0. During the week PSG's Pierre-Alain Frau was suspended for six months for a brutal tackle on Sedan's Stephane Noro during their match on October 14th. Rennes needed another win to boost them in the table, but were unable to find it at the Parc des Princes. Another blow to PSG as striker Pauleta was shown a Red card in the 90th minute, and will miss the next match.

Sochaux was able to salvage three points out of their away match at Toulouse, keeping Sochaux at 8th in the table, and allowing Toulouse to keep a shaky hold on the 4th place spot. Toulouse scored first in the 21st minute, but a penalty taken 11 minutes later but Sochaux' Alvaro Santos gave the visitors the boost they needed, with Karim Ziana scoring the go-ahead goal, sealing the deal in the 88th minute.

Relegation zone Troyes handed St. Etienne a surprise 3-1 thrashing after St. Etienne was reduced to ten men in the 29th minute. Troyes, desperate for a win as they've had one in ten matches, now boost themselves to 16th and out of trouble for the moment. The home side took advantage of the extra man, changing tactics in the second half and popping in three goals in the space of 30 minutes.

Sunday saw two intriguing matchups played out. In Nice the Riviera derby was played out with the result delighting the home fans. Nice picked up a crucial win against second place Marseille, who also needed three points if they wanted any hope of ever catching up to Lyon. Nice sealed Marseille's fate with a well-taken penalty by Honorato Campos Ederson, and moved out of relegation territory into 17th in the table.

Lyon hosted high-flying AS Nancy-Lorraine at the Stade Gerland looking to bolster their already incredible point total, while the visitors would have been happy to get into second place in the table with a win. Nancy put up a valiant effort, but John Carew's goal in the 13th mnute was all Lyon needed. Lyon had some bad news during the week with Brazilian striker Fred's injury sidelining him for two months, although a raft of quality replacement players is always at their disposal. The 1-0 scoreline put Lyon 11 points up on Marseille, whose fortunes have waned in their last few matches, and 13 up on third place Nancy. Good news for Nancy though is that they stay in third place for this week, and have an opportunity with a win against Bordeaux next week to possibly move up.

Sunday, October 22, 2006

Week of October 16 - 23

Welcome to my blog. I intend to give a week-by-week rundown of all French Ligue 1 action, including teams appearing in the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup competitions.


SCORES

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UEFA Champions League

October 17

Dynamo Kiev 0 - 3 Lyon
Lille 3 - 1 AEK Athens

October 18

Bordeaux 0 - 1 Liverpool FC

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UEFA Cup

October 19

Maccabi Haifa 3 - 1 Auxerre
Rapid Bucharesti 0 - 0 PSG

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Ligue 1

October 21

Lille 1 - 0 Lorient
AS Nancy Lorraine 1 - 0 Nantes
Monaco 1 - 3 Toulouse
Rennes 1 - 0 Nice
Sedan 2 - 2 Lens
Sochaux 2 - 1 Bordeaux
St Etienne 2 - 0 Le Mans
Valenciennes 3 - 1 Troyes

October 22

Auxerre 0 - 0 PSG
Marseille 1 - 4 Lyon

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This week's UEFA champions league campaign was an interesting one for French sides as Lyon was matched up against must-win Dynamo Kiev in the Ukraine. Juninho's fine trademark free-kick got Lyon their first goal, followed by a strike by former Rennes midfielder and Swedish international Kim Kallstrom, Lyon's victory was assured with Malouda's header off another Juninho free kick. With this victory Lyon continues their Champions League unbeaten streak, digging Dynamo's grave at the same time.

Lille played AEK Athens at the Stade Félix Bollaert in Lens, due to the home side's Stadium Lille-Metropole not meeting UEFA's stadium standards. Lille claimed second place in Group H behind AC Milan with a victory over AEK Athens. The home side looked the classier throughout with Mathieu Robail, Daniel Gygax and Jean Makoun providing the goals. AEK spent most of the match rolling on the ground looking for cards and penalties, and found one on an innocent challenge from the Lille defender.

Bordeaux needed a win against Liverpool, and failed to find it. Desperation tactics were in order for the home side in most of the second half as Peter Crouch's 58th minute goal sealed victory for the visitors and put the Girondins at the bottom of Group C.

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In UEFA Cup action, Israeli side Maccabi Haifa beat Auxerre convincingly at home, scoring three goals and taking down Group A favorites at the same time. Daniel Niculae scored the only goal for hapless Auzerre, as they find themselves at the bottom of the table after matchday one. Auxerre continues their daunting away schedule against Rangers at Ibrox.

PSG's away game in Romania was an exercise in futility as the visitors played to a draw with Rapid Bucharest. Boredom ensued as the home side held the high profile visitors to a nil-nil draw, and thankfully I didn't have to watch it.

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Saturday's Ligue 1 Draws took a backseat to the much more high-profile Lyon - Marseille match on Sunday, nonetheless they held some intriguing table prospects.

Lille's 1 - 0 win against Lorient was essential, as it pushed the home side up to 5th in the table, while Lorient Dropped to 15th. Mathieu Bodmer scored the only goal in the 36th minute on a penalty, and that was all that was needed to secure the victory.

AS Nancy entered their fixture with Nantes soon after the news came down from UEFA that they were not allowed to wear their jersey in their UEFA cup campaign featuring the slogan "no to racism" around the neck. UEFA explained that only sponsors were allowed on that part of the jersey, and that they had their own "no to racism" campaign. It seems a little ridiculous to me that corporate sponsorship is more important than addressing an important social issue. I digress though, and tell you that Nancy's goal from Michaël Chrétien in the 53rd minute kept them 3rd in the table and kept Nantes in relegation position at the bottom of the table.

Monaco's form continued to decline as they lost at home with ten men, Toulouse scoring 3 goals on the home side placing them in 4th for this week, and driving the Monte Carlo side to 19th.

In an important fixture at the Stade de le Route-de-Lorient in Rennes, the home side dispatched Nice one to nil as Olivier Monterubbio put away a penalty in the 58th minute. Nice had been reduced to ten men at the 8th minute. The win was important for Rennes as their early form flirted with relegation, and they were able to keep themselves a respectable 14th, while Nice enjoys their stay in 17th.

Sedan drew 2 -2 with Lens at home, pulling a point out of their hat with a thrilling equalizer by Marcus Nwambo Mokake in the 90th minute, pushing the home side up to 16th in the ever-tight Ligue 1 standings.

Sochaux handed Bordeaux their second loss of the week, swapping the 8th and 9th places in the table. Bordeaux's only goal came in the 90th minute on Ducasse's penalty, but it was too late. Bordeaux's form contiues to slide domestically and internationally with this loss.

St. Etienne's victory over Le Mans was just what they needed, although Le Mans lost their first string goalkeeper in the process. The match became a bit grubby with St. Etienne's Frederic Piquionne eventually getting sent off, and three other Yellows being dealt. Le Mans had many chances to equalize, but was unable to make good.

Valenciennes made their campaign a little more worthwhile with a win against Troyes. Both sides ended up with ten men by the end of the match, but the home side prevailed and moved into the top half of the table. Sebastien Roudet scored twice and Thomas Dossevi scored once for the home side, giving the Northerners the edge. Troyes moves down into a disappointing relegation 18th.

Sunday's action began with a match between two teams with little luck in Europe over the week. Both teams looked to improve their form, having set up camp in the bottom half of the table the week before. However, both teams failed to even score a goal as their domestic fortunes failed to improve by much. Auxerre's point leapfrogged them into 12th, passin.h spot.

By far the premier match of the week in Ligue 1 was the Lyon - Marseille match at the Stade Velodrome. Lyon began the match 5 points up on Marseille at the top of the table, attempting to continue a five-match domestic winning streak. Tension between the two clubs has always been high, but midweek comments by Marseille boss Pape Diouf strained the relationship even further. The comments were a reaction to Gerard Houllier's earlier suggestion that Marseille's table position was only due to favorable refereeing in recent matches. "I think there is a permanent paranoia at Lyon as soon as they feel us breathing down their necks," said Diouf, "They're cry babies at Lyon. They are sabotaging our work." Marseille winger Franck Ribery was also in the rumour mill over the week with a move to North London speculated, although Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger denies this. Alas for the home side, victory was not on the agenda. Juninho's free kick in the 20th minute sent the visitors up 1-0, followed by Benzema's strike in the 48th. The home side got one back courtesy of Habib Bamogo after being reduced to ten men early in the second half. Juninho and Kallstrom then scored late goals to make the final score 4-1. Lyon continues to run the table with an 8 point lead over second place Marseille, and only a serious drop in form could cause the Champions to fall at this point.