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!

Now, as for that pesky little thing about there being 28 teams in the Round of 32: You’ll notice Lyon and Marseille didn’t participate, seeing as they finished 1-2 in the table and recieved a bye for the next round, where the competition will enter a structured, American-style format akin to the NCAA Basketball tournament.

But now, the matches that took place.

As mentionned above, the big upset of the round was at Chaban-Delmas, where FC Metz, who had recently obtained their first win of the season at the hands of Caen, turned the tables on last year’s winners Bordeaux, and won by two goals to one. Gabriel Obertan opened the scoring for the hosts, only three minutes in, but second-half goals by Barbosa and Gueye changed the scoreboard around. Yum!

Another dramatic come-from behind victory was held at Angers’ Stade Jean-Bouin, a neutral venue for the late affiche of Nantes-Monaco. The Ligue 2 favourites took no prisoners in the first half, scoring two before the match was 35 minutes old, through Claudio Keserü and Marek Heinz. But in the second half, two goals from Brazilian Nené, including a sweet free-kick and a well-set up goal by Serge Gakpé gave the never-say-die Monégasques the victory in the end.

In the last couple of years, Lorient of all clubs, have been Paris Saint-Germain’s annoying little cousin that kicks you in the back of the legs at the semi-annual barbecue. Well, the annoying cousin just got perscribed a dose of ritalin. That’s right, at le Stade du Moustoir, the visitors finally found the key to beating les Merlus, and they did it in convincing fashion, thrashing them 3-0, thanks to two N’Gog goals and a late one from the still-going-strong Pedro Miguel Pauleta.

Go south a few hundred clicks and you’ll find le Stadium in Toulouse, where a wild one took place between Toulouse and the up till then depressed little Stade Malherbe. Tied at two apiece after ninety, Toulouse then went ahead early in the extra-time period, only to see their opponents level in the last minute. And you can only guess what came next: Penalties, which Caen took, 4-2.

Let’s not forget one of the most anticipated matches of the calendar, a bonus edition of le Derby du Nord, pitting Lens against Lille at Amiens’ Stade de la Licorne. Only one goal came of it, an ahem*offside*ahem goal, but a beautiful one, from Belgian international Luigi Pieroni.

All the scores:
Nancy 3-0 Boulogne (L2)
Brest (L2) 1-2 Montpellier (L2)
Niort (L2) 3-2 Le Havre (L2)
Auxerre 1-0 Saint-Étienne
Lens 1-0 Lille
Clermont (L2) 0-1 Rennes
Lorient 0-3 PSG
Valenciennes 2-1 Sochaux
Laval (National) 0-1 Le Mans
Bordeaux 1-2 Metz
Toulouse 3-3, 2-4 p.s.o. Caen
Troyes (L2) 0-1 Nice
Strasbourg 0-2 Amiens (L2)
Nantes (L2) 2-3 Monaco

+ 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.

It started off the way expected it to, when on five minutes, Djibril Cissé smashed in Samir Nasri’s how-the-hell-did-he-manage-that cross past Richert, who would turn out to be one of the key players in the match. The only other notable event in the first half was produced by Dagano, five minutes later, when he was a hair away from equalizing when his chip found Carrasso’s crossbar.

In the second half, Richert made up for conceding the early goal with a fine save on Niang on 60 minutes. Minutes later, Dagano also made up for his miss when he took advantage of poor marking and impeccably nudged Jérôme Leroy’s cross past a surprised Carrasso. A tense end of regulation set the stage for extra-time. Dun-dun-dun…

Djibril Cissé wasted no time establishing himself again in extra-time, as he headed in his second of the game on a perfect cross from Maoulida. With Marseille fans euphoric, Karim Ziani had the chance to silence them, but his effort was first saved by Carrasso onto the bar. No worries, though, because with four minutes remaining, Anthony Le Tallec stunned the entire stadium by scoring the fourth of the game, and the fourth from a header. Penalties? I think so.

Ziani. Sure. 1-0 to Sochaux.
Taiwo. Well, duh. 1-1.
Birsa. You know it. Sochaux up again.
Maoulida. Get the hell outta here. Sochaux 2-1 still.
Le Tallec. Gotta love him. 3-1, getting nervous?
Cana. Don’t shoot much, don’t miss much. 3-2 Sochaux.
Leroy. That’s four in a row. 4-2.
Cissé. A “hat-trick” if you bend the rules. 4-3, everything’s still possible.
Bréchet. Souvenir! Misses the net. 4-3 again.
Nasri. All tied up. 4-4!
Brunel. Can’t ask for more. 5-4.
Zubar. Richert is equal. 5-4 final.

SOCHAUX WIN THE COUPE DE FRANCE!

Sochaux, the team that’s always been between fifth and fifteenth, that never impresses anyone, you know what I’m talking about, are finally crowned once again. They will also take part in the UEFA Cup next season.

Said Teddy Richert (translated from French): Marseille is a good team and it wasn’t easy to come back. But from back there, I could tell that we were keeping up, that we were playing football the way we’re used to. We could have came back, we kept going, and finally we got there. Then came the penalties … We believed we could till the end.

All eyes were on the young dragonslayers as they took on yet another mighty opponent. Mind you, Sochaux had quite a number of chances but couldn’t find the back of Romain Crétin’s net. Montceau had a few themselves, but in all fairness, the match was dominated by the Ligue 1 outfit. The dream looked very much alive throughout the match for Montceau. They even brought it to extra time. However, the efficient Sochaliens stopped all hopes of another upset when Sébastien Grax finished some fine work at the top of the box and proceeded to pivot and slam home the opener. Romain Pitau impeccably put away the second to hush the Bourgogne crowd. Sochaux are going to the final.

You’d think that the other match, featuring two top-flight teams would be more of an even contest. You guessed it, it wasn’t. Fabien Barthez and his heir, Cedric Carrasso piled up the saves in the first twenty minutes, before Nantes’ Payet screamed in a shot that shook the post. Five minutes later, Niang missed the unmissable when he could’ve put the ball into the gaping net after Maoulida had offered him the opener on a silver platter but he completely mishit the ball. Half an hour in, however, Franck Ribéry, the dumbass, gained a tiny bit of cred with yours truly with a truly awesome strike. Up one at half-time, Ribéry was subbed, injured. Maoulida finished off Nasri’s hundred miles per hour run to put OM up by two, before Djib Cissé added the third on his own rebound just minutes after being subbed on.

There’s your final, ladies and gents:

Olympique de Marseille vs. FC Sochaux-Montbéliard, 12 May 2007, Stade de France, Saint-Denis.

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.

The meager score of 1-0 is however decieving, as one team dominated almost the whole ninety minutes. No fluke here folks, as that team was Montceau, who even hit the post a few minutes after Christophe Alidor converted a penalty on 79 minutes. Cheered on by 11,634 spectators at Gueugnon’s Stade Jean-Laville, the minots couldn’t believe what they had done when it was all over after three agonizing minutes of added time.

Lens, on the other hand, were in a state of shock.

Said François Gillot, RCL’s coach (Translated from French): Our efforts were insufficient in every sector. Technical, mental… When that’s the way it is, you’ll get trapped. We don’t know what didn’t work, but we do know that nothing worked.

The last time a team of Montceau’s caliber made it this far was in 2000, when Calais went all the way to the grand finale, where they lost, on a last-minute penalty mind you, to Nantes.

The other tiny little thing involved in the quarter-finals were the Bretons of Vannes. Playing on the pitch of Marseille’s formidable Stade Vélodrome, they were fancying their chances of taking advantage of OM’s current Ligue 1 suckin’ streak, which has seen them winless in five. Hey!, snapped every Marseille player. None of that! None of that was right. Mamadou Niang potted a very decent first one after about 150 seconds of play. The two goals that came next were somewhat of a comedy. Florent Talmont, Vannes’ stalwart defender, was called twice for handling the ball in the penalty area, which Maoulida and Cissé converted one after the other. Maoulida provided a nice fourth, and Pagis puffed his ball beyond the goal line for the fifth near the end of the match. Five-nil to OM.

Sochaux and Paris-SG were in charge of the best calibered match of the four. Paris, who are enjoying the start of a revival (they hope) under new head coach Paul Le Guen, had hopes of winning the Coupe for the second straight year to accomplish something in their poor season. Mickaël Isabey, Sochaux’s well-respected veteran captain, volleyed home a majestic first goal past a helpless Micka Landreau to open up the scoring. Dagano cleanly headed in a second thanks to a perfect cross from Isabey. With the hosts two-nil up, PSG were climbing back desperately, and got a small reward when Afolabi redirected Dramé’s cross into his own net fifteen minutes from full-time. Sochaux goes into the semis, to perhaps meet Marseille, who eliminated them in the Round of 16 of the Coupe last year.

Sedan and Nantes, the two crap teams of Ligue 1 this year, were drawn for the quarters in a match sure to impress the players’ mothers and not many more. Sedan, 20th in the table, drew first blood through Pujol, and not more than a minute later, Claudio Keserü drew even for Nantes, 19th in the table. Penalties came, and after not many saves, penalties went when Fabien Barthez dived the right way on Nicolas Marin’s so-so shot before Da Rocha converted to seal the deal and keep Nantes’ cup dreams alive.

The draw for the next round will be Sunday.