Sainté began the season with three strait losses, including one to newly promoted US Boulogne. It seemed as if the ten time champions would have another season fighting relegation. Then the scouts in Argentina reported back. Gonzalo Bergessio of San Lorenzo was available and interested in a move to France. Augusto Fernandez of River Plate was an option as well. Both were young Argentinian internationals who seemed like they could bring to life Les Vert’s hibernating attack. Few outside of the Loire capital took any notice when these two arrived in France.

In their first game in the green shirts the Argentine duo showed nothing out of the ordinary, and Rennes ran away with the match 1-0. The next week, against Auxerre, Bergessio made his breakthrough, scoring in the 13th minute on the way to a one to one draw. Though this could easily have been nothing more than that-a draw against a lower-midtable side, it became the spark for a goalscoring run. Four days later, Bergessio scored twice in a 4-1 Coupe de la Ligue drubbing of Nice. His run of form continued on the weekend against Monaco where is 92nd minute finish gave Saint-Etienne the three points. However, It was not only Bergessio who starred against Les Monegasques as Augusto Fernandez assisted Sainté’s first goal. The two South Americans came up against their biggest challenge in Ligue 1 today, against defending champions FC Girondins de Bordeaux. Les Girondins were on a 21 match unbeaten streak and Les Verts hardly looked to be the side to break it. Eight minutes into the match and Saint-Etienne were ahead, Fernandez sending Landrin’s cross into the back of the net. Twenty minutes later it was two nil, Bergessio sending a beautiful through-ball to Ilan who calmly converted. The match ended three to one, handing Bordeaux their first loss of the season.  Is the double signing on track for a “Best Deal of the Mercato”? You tell me.

Lyon laid down the law against upstarts Caen yesterday, with goals from Bodmer, Keita (omfg!!!!1) and Benzema. Caen fans must have been happy with the fact that they got one past Vercoutre, which was in the 30th minute through Grandin.

They’ll be up against Le Mans, who easily disposed of Niort to ensure that the quarter-finals would be made up of eight Ligue 1 sides. Although down a man for almost half the game, les Mucistes found a way to hit three, with De Melo, Gervinho and Le Tallec scoring.

The imminent matchup is an interesting one. Who can forget Lyon’s 8-1 plastering on Week 38 two seasons ago? And their narrow 1-0 effort in the semis of this very same competition last year. It’ll be good!

Just so you know, Pedro Miguel Pauleta is alive and well. He scored the two goals for Paris Saint-Germain against my very own Montpellier-Hérault SC that provided them with their first victory at home since approximately the bronze age. And for good measure, Mickaël Landreau saved penalty #3846 of his career when PSG were up by one.

Their next challenge will be Valenciennes, who in a display of efficiency and courage, rid themselves of Rennes at la Route de Lorient. Traoré scored midway through the first and Pujol scored midway through the second. Slap in the face for Dréossi, who had more or less suited up the B squad for a seemingly harmless game.

And wouldn’t you know it, PSG and VAFC met in last year’s Coupe de France, with PSG prevailing thanks to an almighty blunder from Penneteau that provided Rodriguez with an easy goal.

The third quarterfinal will consist of Nancy, who offed Amiens earlier in the week and Lens, who, like Marseille, found their good boots and strapped them on for the Cup. At Louis II, they won only their third match of the season 2-1 over Monaco, with goals from Boukari and Carrière. Piquionne scored between the two, but couldn’t do much more.

In the final pair-up, Auxerre will meet Marseille, with matches on 15 and 16 January

Auxerre and Nice aren’t the most flamboyant or popular teams in the league, case in point the enormous home crowd of 5,000 at l’Abbé-Deschamps. The same crowd that watched a 5-3 thriller by their side against Lorient a few days ago. They opened the scoring early through Pedretti, but Ederson levelled from the spot ten minutes later. Down a man circa the second half, Nice still got a crucial go-ahead goal through Job on 83 minutes, but inevitably conceded in injury time on an Oliech goal. Sigh. Predictability, that’s your cue. Auxerre actually waited till the 105th minute to score again. Floodgates, that’s your cue. Maoulida (105), Oliech (112), Jelen (116), and Maoulida again (120) headlined the festival.

Coincidentally, Auxerre were to face the winner of the Marseille-Metz clash at the Vélodrome. Though Marseille were the clear favourites (Samir is back!), and they did have six dozen chances to score in the first ninety, they had to wait till extra-time to get their shit together. And they partially did! Mamadou Niang scored early, only to be shown up by N’Diaye. Cissé then scored a pretty one, only to be shown up by Baldé in the closing stages. Penalties? Yes please! Down 5-4, Sébastien Bassong stepped up and pulled a Beckham. Marseille are through. (LOL @ Metz supporters)

When the winners from two matches that combined for eight goals in two extra-time periods, it’s probably gonna be good.

Also being played today was Nancy and Amiens. Not quite as exciting as the two above matches. Moncef Zerka scored a penalty on thirteen minutes, and that would prove to be enough. They will face the winner of Monaco and Lens in the quarter-finals.

Side note: Be sure to check out The Offside’s first ever podcast, hosted by Ian and Anne! Watch out, because someone may be joining in the fun and talking about Ligue 1 soon!

+ Lens had to fight to come up with a draw against the feisty FC Købenvahn at Bollaert today, equalizing in the second half with Aruna Dindane (more on this tomorrow). Tomorrow, the four others (!) will try to muster a better result than the Sang et Or. Bordeaux goes north to see what Tampere United of Finland are made of, while Sochaux will host Panionios of the Greek Super League. Rennes and Toulouse, in a comic coincidence, will battle out with two teams from the same city, CSKA and Lokomotiv. No, not Moscow, but rather Sofia, with the Bretons heading over and the Occitans welcoming.

+ Nantes are still on top of the second division. The Canaris beat Sedan in the late game, 2-1, to reclaim their throne with 16 points from seven matches. Behind them on goal differential are Le Havre, 3-2 victors at Dijon. Third place belongs to Grenoble for the moment, spurred by their 3-1 triumph over Brest on the weekend.

+ Raymond Domenech, hardly one to beat around the bush about his views on domestic football, gave his opinion about OM’s chances in the Champions League this year. Concerned with the power of Liverpool and Porto, he affirmed that “it’ll be very hard to finish in the top two of the group, because it’s a real tough one. Their situation is worrying me.”

+ Good news if you’re a guy like me who loves free and legal internet feeds of any kind of soccer: For the Round of 32 of the Coupe de la Ligue, France Televisions is streaming eight of the sixteen matches live on their websites. Not sure which yet, but I’ll definitely let you know more when the issue progresses.

Anyway.

The match went like this. Not a single speck of danger showed its head in the first fifteen minutes, but on seventeen, Toulalan got control of the ball after Planus blocked a shot and cracked it towards the net, but no dice as Ramé punched away. A few bookings and a near goal by Juninho finished off the half in suspensful fashion. On sixy minutes, things got a little more interesting. Bordeaux got their first real chance when Faubert’s fairly long-range shot was not far from breaking the deadlock, but it went just wide. Another pair of yellow cards preceded a pair of changes for both sides. Like I said, barely any drama was present, and we had to wait until the 88th minute for Bordeaux to get a corner kick. With all the big fellas up there, Henrique, who hadn’t scored all season, rose above everyone and placed a textbook header into the back of Vercoutre’s wide-open net. Golazooooooooo! Wouldn’t you know it, that would be it. Bordeaux win their second league cup after winning it in 2002 over Lorient, and obtain an automatic qualification to next year’s UEFA Cup. Don’t count on them graciously accepting it just yet though- they’re still very much in the running for a Champions League spot.

Of note: A record 79 072 spectators assisted the match.

Said Gérard Houllier, Lyon’s manager (translated from French): I see this loss as a cruel injustice for my players. They took risks and they weren’t rewarded for them. Bordeaux was a very good winner, we have lost, but this feels like a hold-up. I know you’ll write that down.

Hell yes I will.

Said Ricardo, Bordeaux’s manager (translated from French, after the reporter told him that Lyon were accusing them of having turned the game rotten): They say the same thing, for the second time. In the championnat, we got a player with a fractured leg and another with four stitches. I don’t understand them. That team doesn’t need that, they’re a good side. But I think we deserve their congratulations. If we don’t get them, that’s too bad. There were many fouls, but it’s a final match! There were as many in the World Cup final.

NOW: Try to find the more mature coach.

How they got there
Lyon: PSG (2-1), Nancy (3-1), Le Mans (1-0)
Bordeaux: Auxerre (1-0), Saint-Étienne (1-0 aet), Reims (2-1)

How they’re doing in Ligue 1
Lyon: 1st place, 65 points, 20-5-4
Bordeaux: 3rd place, 44 points, 13-5-11

How they’ve done against each other this season
20/08/2006: Bordeaux 1-2 Lyon
24/01/2007: Lyon 1-2 Bordeaux

How they’ve done against each other in Coupe de la Ligue
29/01/2000: Lyon 1-0 Bordeaux (Round of 16)
08/01/2002: Bordeaux 1-1 (4-2 pso) Lyon (Round of 16)

Lyon squad
Keepers: Coupet, Vercoutre, Hartock, Bouchard
Defenders: Clerc, Réveillère, Cris, Squilacci, Müller, Caçapa, Abidal, Berthod
Midfielders: Toulalan, Diarra, Fabio Santos, Tiago, Juninho, Källström, Malouda, Govou, Wiltord, Ben Arfa
Forwards: Fred, Benzema, Baros, Rémy, Bettiol

Bordeaux squad
Keepers: Ramé, Valverde
Defenders: Faubert, Henrique, Jemmali, Jurietti, Marange, Planus
Midfielders: Alonso, Fernando, Mavuba, Francia, Micoud, Smicer, Wendel
Forwards: Cavenaghi, Darcheville, Chamakh, Jussiê, Obertan

Who will win?
Lyon, that’s who. Sounds obvious, but it isn’t. My prediction: 2-1.

Sure enough, the ogre better known as Olympique Lyonnais will have themselves a cute little final on March 31 against FC Girondins de Bordeaux.

Bordeaux got to the last step on Tuesday, ending Ligue 2’s Reims’ storybook dreams as they eliminated them on the road narrowly, by a score of 2-1. Reims’ admirable run, that took them past Caen (L2), Clermont (Nat), Monaco (L1) and Rennes (L1) stopped as the second-place finishers from last year’s season proved too strong. Goals from Marange and Darcheville saw them through.

Lyon, who had a harder match to dispute on paper, as they took on Le Mans at home. And for a while in the early stages, they looked to be in quite the pickle. Le Mans had a few chances and gave their hosts a decent scare, but French international Eric Abidal scored the game’s only goal on 22 minutes.

The final, to be played at the Stade de France on March 31, 2007, will have the winner automatically entered for the third round of qualifing for the UEFA Cup. Given that Lyon will have qualified for a somewhat more prestigious tournament, Bordeaux is, at this point, a cinch for next years UEFA Cup, win or lose.

Lyon, who drew defending champion Nancy, had work to do (believe it or not) and got it done. After a scoreless first half, Malouda opened the scoring a few minutes into the second frame, only to have it equalized ten minutes later on Zerka’s clinically placed volley. Govou then thanked Malouda for an easy tap-in to put the visitors in front. Diarra capped it off in the 90th to see Lyon through, where they will play Le Mans.

The other match, with Ligue 2 side Stade de Reims going to visit Rennes, was the obvious surprise of the day. With Rennes sleeping, Reims took the wind out of the crowd in the 52nd minute when Fauré deftly redirected Feret’s volley into Pouplin’s net. With the home side struggling, but gaining ground, the unlikely winners gave up a penalty on 81 minutes. Monterrubio strikes, Liébus saves. End of game. Reims will play Bordeaux in the semis.

Sochaux welcomed L2 outfit Dijon, and proceeded to rout them 5-0. Marseille, who had just taken a beating from Lyon just last sunday, came into the formidable stadium of Saint-Etienne and went home after getting thrashed 4-1.

Lyon were playing at home against underachievers Paris-SG. A 58th minute penalty put PSG ahead, and they looked to be running away with the game until 5 minutes remained. French international Sylvain Wiltord netted two goals in the 88th and 90th minutes to keep the powerhouse going.

Defending champion Nancy, sporting slogan-free shirts, continued their fine play of late and offed Brian Bergougnoux and his Toulousians 2-1.

Other scores: Le Mans 3-1 Lens ; Lille 0-2 Rennes (aet) ; Auxerre 0-1 Bordeaux