Championnat

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

Sunday, April 08, 2007

Week of April 2-9

SCORES

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Ligue 1

April 7

Valenciennes 0-0 Lyon
Nancy 0-1 Lorient
Auxerre 0-0 Bordeaux
Monaco 0-0 Troyes
PSG 2-1 Le Mans
Rennes 1-0 Lens
Sochaux 1-1 Nice
St. Etienne 2-1 Nantes

April 8

Sedan 0-2 Toulouse
Marseille 4-1 Lille

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The early Saturday matchup saw league leaders and likely winners Lyon travel north to Valenciennes. Lyon had the week off last week when the League cut back on the fixtures, and Valenciennes had had a fruitful trip to Lille where they got themselves out of a bit of a jam by beating them 2-0. This afternoon's match was a dud though, as a defensively minded Valenciennes held Lyon to a 0-0 draw. Lyon had nothing on the day, and looked as if they could care less about the result. They still sit on top comfortably however, and Valenciennes earn a much-needed point. The northern side sit in 14th on the day.

Nancy were host to Lorient, who had finally played a meaningful match the weekend previous and beaten Marseille 2-1. Nancy were in 14th, and needed results to stay out of trouble at the bottom of the table. Last week they also had a break due to the league schedule changes. The home side were absolutely dominant in every respect, pelting the Lorient net constantly but getting nothing to show for it. They were desperately unlucky to have a penalty go against them and just one of Lorient's shots made it to the back to the net. 1-0 was the final score, and the result leaves Nancy in 15th and Lorient in 10th.

Bordeaux were well-rested after their week off, and now they had to travel to Auxerre, a team that had been stringing together results of late, keeping themselves out of relegation danger and now sitting in 10th. Bordeaux needed points to roll back into the European spots, where Sochaux and Toulouse now sat. A lack of finishing despite shots galore meant that the only interesting thing to come from this match was Benoit Cheyrou's sending off in the second half. Bordeaux could not take advantage of their extra man, and they sit in 6th still. Auxerre sit in 9th on 43 points.

Monaco's draw with Nice last weekend was a fine enough result for them, they now sat in 13th, 9 points above the relegation spots. They hosted Troyes, who had had the bad luck of losing 1-0 at home to Sochaux, which dropped them into 19th. Troyes were certainly the more desperate team on the day. Desperation doesn't make for good football all the time though, and Troyes showed why they were in the predicament they were in by barely registering on the pitch. This one also finished 0-0, and the point allowed Troyes to move up a place temporarily, and Monaco remain in 13th.

PSG had finally gotten a positive result against second-place Lens last weekend and the three points were enough to move them into 17th, but still just 1 point above the drop. Le Mans had only lost one of their previous 5, and would like to stay in contention for Europe as they were only 4 points back of those places. Last week's draw with Auxerre had kept them on pace. Le Mans opened things up in the 30th minute when Grafite scored on the counterattack following a PSG corner. The home side battled back, however, and after the break came back and Pegguy Luyindula got a rare goal to tie things up. The comeback was completed when Amara Diané got his 6th of the year to net the winner. 2-1 was the final score, and PSG got the result they needed to stay out of danger for one more week. PSG now sat in 16th, and Le Mans in 12th.

Lens were a bit of a beleaguered team when they went to Rennes Saturday afternoon. They had lost 2 in a row and had only won one in 5. They still sat in second, but were making it easy for Lyon to run away with the title. Rennes were sitting in 11th, but were coming off a break from league competition, and certainly had the better form and fresher legs. It wasn't a game with many chances for either team, but half and hour in, Rennes' John Utaka got his 8th of the year and put the home side up 1-0. It turned out to be all they would need. Lens were poor again on the day, and they were looking like they might drop out of their automatic Champions League position. Rennes continue to chase Europe hopefully, and sat only 3 points back of a UEFA Cup spot in 8th.

Sochaux were now joyously in 3rd place, and would now need to keep winning if they wanted to stay up there. Their win against Troyes had been most fortuitous, and this week's opponents were in danger of suffering the same fate as their bottom feeding brethren. Nice had managed a draw with Monaco last week, but still sat in 16th, dangerously close to the drop. Sochaux dominated the play, but it was Nice who drew first blood, but not until the 68th minute when David Bellion scored. It was not to last, however, as Sochaux' Beli-Moumouni Dagano levelled things off 5 minutes later to snatch the point. Sochaux still chase Europe with the result, and Nice now sit only one point above the drop, dangerously.

St. Etienne hosted Nantes in a clash that Nantes needed points out of badly. They had lost to Sedan last week and enabled them to move out of 20th, and now they sat in their place at the bottom. St. Etienne were also coming off a loss to Toulouse, who had beaten them 1-0 and driven them into 7th place. The Stade Geoffrey-Guichard erupted 27 minutes in when Vincent Hognon struck first for the home side. 2 minutes later, however, Mamadou Diallo scored for the visitors to give them a spark of life. It was short-lived, and Bafetimbi Gomis got his 9th of the year to put the home side up again. Nothing much happened in the second half until St. Etienne midfielder Mouhamadou Dabo was sent off. Nantes couldn't take advantage though, and they continue to languish at the bottom of the table. St. Etienne move up to 5th on the day.

Shock horror, Sedan were finally on form! Their win over Nantes last week had been their most crucial one in recent memory and they now saw just one point below PSG in 17th place. They hadn't lost in 6 matches and were on a roll. Toulouse were a tough opponent, however, and they were now competing for a European place sitting in 4th on the day. The sides were very evenly matched for most of the match, and the deadlock lasted until the 78th minute, when Toulouse's Paulo Cesar struck for the visitors. Albin Ebondo got Toulouse's second just a few minutes from time to doom Sedan back into relegation danger. Toulouse now sit in 3rd, their best position in a long while.

Both Marseille and Lille knew that they were underachieving, and they both thought they deserved higher table positions than they had. Marseille had dropped points to Lorient, and Lille to Valenciennes the week previous. The teams sat in 8th and 6th, respectively. The visitors were doomed from nearly the start when Lille's Brazilian defender Emerson was sent off in the 8th minute, giving away a penalty which Mamadou Niang then converted. The referee then saw fit to even the score 4 minutes later when Lille were awarded a penalty which Bastos took and scored. Ten men was not kind to Lille, however, and Renato Cevilli scored before and after the break to make the score 3-1. Mamadou Niang scored again in injury time to destroy Lille's day completely.

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