Championnat

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

Sunday, February 25, 2007

Week of February 19 - 26

SCORES

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UEFA Champions League

February 20

Manchester United 1-0 Lille

February 21

Roma 0-0 Lyon

Ligue 1

February 24

Toulouse 3-0 Marseille
Le Mans 0-2 Monaco
Lyon 3-3 Sochaux
Nantes 1-1 Auxerre
Nice 2-1 Lille
Rennes 0-2 Sedan
Troyes 3-0 Lorient

February 25

Lens 2-2 Nancy
Bordeaux 2-1 Valenciennes
PSG 0-2 St. Etienne

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Tuesday saw Lille host Manchester Untied, albeit at the Felix-Bollaert in Lens. The match would require all the resources that Lille could muster, as the Red Devils had been flying of late, and Lille were much on the opposite end of the spectrum, their form being somewhat haphazard. The first half showed little promise, with each team feeling the other out to see what could be done. The second half started much brighter though, with both teams getting great chances. Lille's Peter Odemwingie converted Ludovic Obraniak's cross to what looked like a goal, but was called back, as the referee ruled that United defender Vidic had been fouled on the play. 6 minutes from time, United's Ryan Giggs took a hasty free-kick that resulted in a goal, but incensed the Lille bench and the supporters. Claude Puel called his men off the pitch in protest and the referee was at a loss of what to do. Police and crowd trouble also marred a match that surely will see UEFA come down hard on Les Dogues for their actions on and off the pitch, as well as the trouble in the stadium. The return leg goes March 7th at Old Trafford in Manchester.

Wednesday saw league leaders Lyon make the trip to Rome to meet Roma at the Stadio Olimpico. The match started with nothing between the teams, but an aggressive style of play soon developed, and a succession of fouls slowed the already tentative style of play to a bit of a crawl. Lyon had a very good spell of possession that amounted to nothing in the first half, and Roma did little to test Coupet. Juninho almost pulled one off for the visitors as time expired, but this one was all about non-chances and a lack of finishing. 11 Yellow Cards were handed out in total to amke things dangerous, especially for a Roma side that received 8. This one ended 0-0, a result that Lyon will be happy to take back with them to the Gerland.

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Ligue 1 Action kicked off Saturday in Toulouse under the shadow of the Pyrenees, where Marseille travelled the short distance to see if they could leapfrog Sochaux and end up in a European place again. Marseille and Toulouse were even on points on the day, but Toulouse were in much better form, coming off wins against Lille and Lorient. Marseille got a poor 0-0 draw at home when faltering Nantes came to visit. Marseille dominated the early going, with pressure coming from all sides near the Toulouse goal. Marseille looked the more dangerous team until Toulouse broke the deadlock in the 39th minute when Johan Elmander broke through and fooled the keeper to make things 1-0 at halftime. Marseille's day went from bad to worse after the break, as Elmander got his brace only three minutes later. Toulouse's Achille Emana got the extra insurance goal in the 63rd minute to complete a performance that had the home fans jumping and happy. Marseille slip out of the European places with the loss, and Toulouse move all the way up to 3rd with the result.

Le Mans hosted Monaco in a match that saw both teams in need of a win. Le Mans lost to Sochaux last week in a game littered with mistakes on their part. Monaco snoozed to a 0-0 draw at home against Lens, who surely should have taken the points away from the principality side. Monaco was the first to hit the scoreboard when Frederic Piquionne netted his 3rd goal of the season just 15 minutes in, despite seeing much less of the ball and only one shot on goal. Monaco picked up the pace after the goal, and just past the halfway mark saw Uruguayan international Domingo Perez score to make it 2 for the Monagesques. That's the way the story went, and the result sees Le Mans slip up again in a crucial matchup.

Sochaux had a big 2-0 win over Le Mans last week, having taken advantage of all their opponents weaknesses and ended the weekend in 4th place in the standings, their best in a good while. Lyon were a different and much tougher opponent, however. Lyon had drawn Roma in Europe over the week, and had slightly more tired legs, but the team as a whole were getting back into form after a dreadful start to the year. Sochaux thought they had this one in the bag early on, as striker Álvaro Santos scored his 7th of the season, closely followed by the referee awarding them a penalty, which Karim Ziani promptly converted. Lyon's new signing Milan Baros was able to light a spark, however, when he struck in the 40th minute to give the home side a glimmer of hope. Late in the second half Sochaux' striker Sebastien Grax, recently come from Monaco, showed that he started this match for a reason, and that was to make the scoreline 3-1. It was the perfect scorline to have in the 86th minute if you were a Sochaux supporter, but it all fell apart in minutes, as Silvain Wiltord got one back in the 90th minute, and then a penalty went against Sochaux, and that gave Juninho a chance to tie it up, which he did. Lyon really showed their quality in this one with the comeback, and both teams came away with a point to share.

A team that were in dire straights was Nantes, who came into the weekend in 19th place, sitting on 22 points. The draw with Marseille last weekend was the best they could have expected under the circumstances, but a valuable 2 points were lost in the long run. Nantes had the pleasure of hosting Auxerre, whose season wasn't going badly, but they knew they wouldn't be competing for a top spot, even in the tight Ligue 1 Table. Auxerre drew Sedan 2-2 last weekend, a result that they would not be proud of. Auxerre midfielder Benoit Cheyrou got his 3rd of the season in the 19th minute to get things off to a rollicking start for the visitors. A battle for the midfield began, and neither team could get anything going until deep into the second half, when Nantes Claudiu Keseru scored to give the home side a ray of hope. Unfortunately for them, it was all they could muster and came away with just 1 point instead of the 3 they so desperately needed.

The Municipal du Ray was the venue for Nice's home fixture vs. European bad boys Lille. Nice were in the relegation zone, but could conceivably lift themselves out with a win here. Lille were a club in turmoil and disrepute after the incident midweek against Manchester United cast a shadow over their recent efforts. Nice were in better form domestically, winning their last 3, but Lille were a different story. Things got ugly after a particularly scrappy bit of play in the first half. Nice's Florent Balmont and Lille's Nicolas Plestan got into a row and were both shown straight red for fighting. The open playing field was exactly what Nice wanted, and Bakari Kone was able to pop one in just before halftime. Lille came back with vigor after the half but were unable to score until the 62nd minute when Yohan Cabaye got his 3rd of the season. Kone could no be stopped however and got the brace in the 85th minute to send Lille packing home. This was exactly the result Nice needed to get themselves out of relegation territory, and Lille drop all the way to 5th.

Rennes were a team on fire, sitting on their best table position of the season and within striking distance of Europe. Last week they beat St. Etienne away to go level on points with them, and were only 3 points back of a European spot. Their home match vs. Sedan was not one that they would fear, but rather relish, even though Sedan had managed to draw Auxerre last weekend. Sedan's Gregory Pujol scored just 15 minutes in to give the visitors a surprise lead, despite Renne's dominating every facet of the game. Rennes absolutely pelted the Sedan net for the entire match, out-shooting their opponents 22-9. After another futile period of play, Rennes conceded again, this time it was Mansour Boutabout who got a taste of the onionbag. A shock result indeed that set Rennes' aspirations back a bit.

Troyes hosted Lorient Saturday afternoon, and it was a tale of two teams with opposite seasons. Troyes had managed to lift themselves out of relegation, but thanks to a big team effort from Lorient, they had been in a comfortable position all season. Last week saw Troyes beat Bordeaux at home, and Lorient had travelled to Toulouse only to lose 1-0. Troyes turned out a dominating performance in this one, with Gaël Danic scoring 2 minutes in, and it just got better for the home side. David Gigliotti scored just before halftime, and then Danic scored again as time expired to finish this one off 3-0 Lorient were poor on the day and Troyes fully deserved the three points.

The first of three matches on Sunday saw Nancy travel to the Felix-Bollaert in Lens to make up the points they lost against PSG lat week. Lens, for their part, had only managed a disappointing draw on their trip to Monaco. Lens would need all the points they could get with every other team wishing to be in their Champions League spot. Lens conceded a goal a mere 7 minutes from the start when low-scoring Nancy striker Marc-Antoine Fortune got his second goal of the season. Lens were not to be deterred though, and Aruna Dindane got one back 12 minutes later. A clumsy challenge by Nancy gave Lens midfielder Seydou Keita the chance to convert a penalty, which he did to bump his season tally to 8. Lens coasted through the rest of the first half and all of the second until recent Nancy signing Youssouf Hadji got his first goal of the season and the first for his new club since joining from Rennes during the transfer window. The 90th minute strike was all Nancy needed for the point, and though Lens stay in second, they don't gain any ground on Lyon.

Bordeaux and Valenciennes was a story of two teams on extremely poor runs of form. Valenciennes had shown that their big win the other week was a flash in the pan by losing to lowly Nice last weekend. Bordeaux had it even worse, losing to Troyes. The teams sat in 9th and 16th, respectively. Bordeaux Midfielder Fernando Menegazzo got a chance to get his first of the season when they were awarded a penalty early in the match. Megazzo converted, putting Bordeaux up 1-0. The home side were on a roll when Ferreira Vieira made it 2-0 at the stroke of halftime. Valenciennes were dire on the day, but managed to pull one back in the 83rd minute courtesy of Midfielder Thomas Dossevi, but it wasn't enough, as Bordeaux get a win that they needed and now sit in 6th. Valenciennes now drop into the relegation zone courtesy of the win by Nice, and are level on points with PSG.

PSG were playing their bast football of the year when St. Etienne came to call at the Parc Des Princes. PSG had assaulted Nancy last weekend 3-0, and St. Etienne had suffered nearly the same fate at the hands of Rennes. PSG needed the win more though, to keep themselves out of relegation danger. The visitors burst the PSG bubble in the first half when Defender Damien Perquis got a rare goal to make the score 1-0. Once on a roll, St. Etienne got another in the 45th minute courtesy of striker Araujo Ilan, his 9th of the year. Two brilliant saves on the part of St. Etienne keeper Jeremie Janot kept the scoreline the same for the second half, and once again PSG are in dangerous territory, hovering just above the drop zone on goal differential. St. Etienne, on the other hand, move up to 5th as their season gets a little bit better.

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