Association de la Jeunesse Auxerroise is a club known for the feat of never having been relegated from Ligue 1, as well as producing some world class players in recent years, such as Eric Cantona, Phillipe Mexes, and Djibril Cisse. They have a Ligue 1 topping 17 full international players in their first team, and although this statistic speaks of greatness, Auxerre have been mediocre at best over the past few seasons under the leadership of much traveled manager Jean Fernandez. This season things have been different, and I’ll begin by analyzing their first team.

In terms of goalkeepers they are pretty much set. Olivier Sorin is a solid Ligue 1 keeper in the prime of his career, while Remi Riou is one of the best up and coming keepers in France. They have shared the minutes pretty evenly over the past few seasons, and this provides healthy competition, inspiring to work hard for their places.

On defense they are solid as well. Cedric Hengbart contributes significantly to the attack from the right wing and is a seasoned veteran. In the center Swiss International Stephane Gritching partners Malian International Adama Coulibaly, making a tandem with bucket loads of Ligue 1 experience. On the left we have Jean-Pascal Mignot, who has spent his entire career to date with les Auxerrois, making 137 league appearances. They work excellently as a unit and have played a full two seasons together.

The definite star of the Auxerre midfield is Benoit Pedretti. The dead ball specialist is a multi-faceted central midfielder who has played for some of the best clubs in France and has collected 22 caps for the French National Team in his career. He is also the captain and has been at Auxerre for the past 4 seasons. The other normal starters are Kamel Chafni and youngster Delvin N’Dinga. Dariusz Dudka, Aurelien Capoue (on loan from Nantes), and Roy Contout also feature, but there is little depth beyond that.

Up front Auxerre are blessed multitude of options. Ireneusz Jelen is an excellent goalscorer (33 league goals for the club in total), but the Polish international has had injuries galore since his arrival in France from Warsaw. Daniel Niculae is also a good striker, but his goal scoring is extremely inconsistent. In 07/08 he scored 11 in the Ligue, while last year he managed a total of zero. Speed demons Valter Birsa and Dennis Oliech also compliment the offense, but have had difficulties finding the net at a club level this season. Alexandre Licata and Julien Quercia, both considered to be solid Ligue 1 forwards, have seen zero minutes so far this season due to the amount of competition for a place in the starting 11.

It seems to me that the keys to this Auxerre side are the level of competition maintained throughout and the goalscoring and play making abilities of Ireneusz Jelen and Benoit Pedretti. So, why are they on top? Their summer signings were well thought out and smart, they have been consistent since that poor start to the season, and rest of the league simply hasn’t.

This weekend brings us a a mix of World Cup and Africa Cup of Nations Qualifiers, World Cup Playoffs and friendlies.  Ligue 1 was represented across the globe– some in key matches that determine if their country to will be going to South Africa and/or Angola next year, others in less important (but, at times, still exciting) friendlies.

As always, I may miss some players and games– please feel free to include additional information in the comments section– it is rather difficult (and time consuming) to create a completely exhaustive list so for this post to be really good, I will need the help of you!

I usually start with Europe…but there has been so much hype on those play-off matches already so let’s mix things up…

AFRICA WORLD CUP AND CAN QUALIFIERS

Morocco vs. Cameroon

Morocco continues its terrible form by losing 2-0 at home to Cameroon.  With this win, Cameroon was able to qualify for the World Cup, in spite of their dismal start.  This WC will be their 6th straight appearance for the country in the competition finals– which is a record for an African team.  The two goal scorers were Real Mallorca’s Pierre Webo (’17) and Inter’s Samuel Eto‘o (’52).  The papers are focusing on Eto’s goals, which was his ninth goal in 11 starts in the 2010 qualifiers, but I want to focus on the fantastic assist Jean Makoun (Lyon) made to create the goal!  Cameroon’s recent winning form was a result of the work of former Ligue 1 coach and Frenchman Paul Le Guen (formerly managed Rennes, Lyon and PSG).  Congrats to the other Ligue 1 players– Mbia (OM), Nkoulou (Monaco) and Alo’o Efoulou (Nancy).

Morocco’s squad was certainly weakened by the loss of Chamakh (Bordeaux, suspension) as well as several other players who were forced to pull out of the squad through injury.  Unfortunately, Ligue 1’s reprensentatives– Hermach (Lens), Chretien (Nancy) and Hadji (Nancy) were not able to pull off an upset.  Morocco sit in last place with only 3 points in 6 games– and won’t be in South Africa or Angola next year!

Togo vs. Gabon

Togo secured its’ place in the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations tournaments with its 1-0 win over Cameroon (a game where Adebayor promised to double his teammates winning bonus if they won).  Though they are not able to qualify for South Africa, their third place finish will allow them to compete in Angola in January.  Despite already qualifying they were able to grind out a 1-0 win over Gabon.  Congratulations to Romao (Grenoble), Gakpe (Monaco) and Ayite (Nancy) on the win– South Africa won’t be same without Togo, but hopefully they will get to shine in Angola!

Gabon, who finished second in the group despite the loss, have also qualified for the African Cup– meaning Nice and Le Mans will lose the services of Mouloungui and Ovono next year!

Kenya vs. Nigeria

Nigeria managed to come from behind and win 3-2 thanks to two Obamefi Martin (Wolfsburg) strikes. Martin was helped by Ligue 1’s Echiejile (Rennes) who was given a starting 11 spot.  OM’s Taiwo was called into the squad but never made it off the bench.  This win allowed Nigeria to leapfrog Tunisia, win the group and qualify for South Africa (for the 4th straight tournament).

Mozambique vs. Tunisia

Tunisia lost their two point lead in the group and failed to qualify for the 2010 World Cup by losing 1-0 to Mozambique.  While this is a huge disappointment for Ligue 1’s Carthage Eagles Ben Khalfallah (Valenciennes), Jemaa (Lens), Kasraoui (Lens), Mikari (Sochaux), Saihi (Montpellier), Ben Saada (Nice), but their second place finish automatically qualifies them for the Africa Cup of Nations.  Hopefully they will be able to avenge themselves for this loss by beating Mozambique (who qualified as third in the group) in the African Cup in January.

Egypt vs. Algeria

The anticipation and drama before this match was high.  First, Algeria’s bus was attacked when they arrived in Cairo earlier this week by young rioters, causing three Alergian players to sustain facial cuts.  Egypt’s FA is making the conspiracy theory defense, claiming that the attack was staged by the Algerians to undermine them on the international stage.

Before the game, Algeria was in first place  with a three point cushion between them and Egypt.  To keep their World Cup qualification hopes alive, Egypt needed to beat Algeria by two goals– which they did!  With the win, Egypt managed to force a play-off game, which will be played in neutral Sudan.  Hopefully, Lorient’s  Mansouri will keep his place in the starting 11 for the final qualification game and help Algeria qualify for the World Cup.

Sudan vs. Benin

Benin sealed their second place group position by beating the Group D whipping boys, Sudan (who only managed to win 1 point in qualification) 2-1.  There isn’t much information on the match, but Benin’s squad typically contains both Sessegnon (PSG) and Pote (Nice) from Ligue 1.  Any additional details would be greatly appreciated!

Burkina Faso vs Malawi

Both Burkina Faso and Malawi came into this game knowing that there was no way they could qualify for the World Cup, but only Burkina Faso was certain to qualify for the African Cup.  Unfortunately, Malawi wasn’t able to channel this extra motivation into a win, losing 1-0.  They no doubt felt secure that Guinea wouldn’t be able to beat Group E top dog, the Ivory Coast.  This means that Ligue 1 will lose Burkina Faso’s Traore (Auxerre), Bamogo (Nice) and Kabore (OM) in January.

Ivory Coast vs. Guinea

The Ivory Coast managed to beat Guinea, who had the chance to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations if they had won this game, without Drogba (Chelsea).  This isn’t surprising considering their strong showing in qualification– they remain undefeated in their World Cup qualification group, winning four of their last five games including a 5-0 smashing of the group’s second place Burkina Faso in September.  Despite not having Drogba, the Ivory Coast squad was in good hands with Ligue 1’s Gervinho (Lille) and Gosso (Monaco) taking the field in the starting 11 to help secure the 3-0 win over Guinea.  Unfortunately, recent call-ups Fae (Nice), Soro (Lorient), Doumbia (Lorient), Coulibaly (Nice), Dindane (loaned to Portsmouth from Lens), Traore (Sochaux) and Bakari Kone (OM) weren’t able to make the squad through injury, suspension or just poor performance.

UEFA WORLD CUP PLAY-OFFS

While most of Africa battled out the final spots for the World Cup and the African Cup, most of the world was fixated on the first leg of the UEFA World Cup qualifying games that were played this weekend.  Ligue 1 was represented in three of the four matches, but results were mixed…

Ireland vs. France

The build-up for this match included Domenech calling Ireland the “England B” squad, Domenech getting booed in front of his players at the Tennis Masters Tournament in Paris, Irish player Dunne claiming that Domenech’s coaching is an advantage for them, Sarkozy getting facebook and Irish claims to teach the French respect.

Despite all these obstacles– and the rain– France managed to win 1-0 in Ireland thanks to a 72′ deflected goal from Anelka (Chelsea). Ligue 1 was well represented in the starting 11– with Lloris (Lyon), Gourcuff, Alou Diarra and Gignac (Toulouse) making the cut.  Mandanda (OM), Sissoko (Toulouse), Govou (Lyon) had to be satisfied with the bench, while Toulalan’s (Lyon) forced him to sit of this game.

Despite winning, the drama continues as Domenech threatens to leave the post-match press conference after being asked about having a fight with Henry over Viera’s abscence from the squad this morning.

Portugal vs. Bosnia-Herzegovina

Portugal managed to capitalize on a fleeting moment of weakness in a game where Bosnia displayed an amazing sense of discipline.  The goal, which was assisted by Nani and scored by Bruno Alves, allows Portugal to go into the second match with a slight advantage.  The bigger threat to Bosnia’s qualification campaign is the loss of three key players (Montpellier’s Spahic, Rahimic and Muratovic) who received bookings which will keep them out of the second leg.  But, Bosnia’s loss is Ligue 1’s gain as this might allow Lyon’s Pjanic a place in the starting 11.  In the first leg, he started out on the bench but made a substitution appearance in the 87th minute for Muratovic.

Russia vs. Slovenia

Auxerre’s Valtar Birsa was unable to help his team secure a victory in their 2-1 loss to Russia; however, they manage to secure a crucial away goal (though only after Birsa was substituted out of the match).  A 1-0 win at home will see Slovenia qualify for South Africa on away goals this week!

INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLIES

Spain vs. Argentina

Given  his dismal OM performance, it really isn’t shocking that Heinze failed to help his team keep out two Xabi Alonso goals in Argentina’s 2-1 defeat.

Slovakia vs. US

Bocanegra (Rennes) couldn’t help the US beat Slovakia in this friendly which was determined by a penalty.  It will be a tough loss for US to swallow considering they outshot the Slovakians 8-5 and had four more corners.

Interesting Fact:  Apparently, both teams started sons of their coaches.

AS Saint-Etienne: Sainte have a very strong argument, having won the Ligue 1 title more than any other club, 10 times in total. There was also a period in which they were one of the biggest clubs in Europe, although they have no continental trophies to their name.

Olympique de Marseille: OM are another of the major candidates, having won the title eight times, over a longer period, and since consistency is arguably an important factor in club status, this provides a bonus for OM. They are also one of the richest clubs in France, and have had considerable success in European competition, winning the inaugural Champions League.

Olympique Lyonnais: They are the richest club in France and by far the most successful over the last decade, winning seven titles from 2002-2008. The international stars they have attracted along with their greater foreign recognition make them another prime candidate.

FC Nantes: Although currently languishing in Ligue 2, Nantes have also won the title eight times, most recently in 2001. Another club with a strong history in France, though they have had limited success in Europe.

AS Monaco: Although not technically in France, AS Monaco is a key element of French football. They have won the title 7 times in their 85 year history, and participated in the Champions League final in 2004. They also host a world-beating array of former players.

Stade de Reims: Quickly after of the conception of the league, Reims became the dominant force. They won six titles from 1949-62, and achieved strong positions in the European Champions Clubs Cup. However, since then the club has fallen in status, and currently resides in the Championnat National, the third division.

FC Girondins de Bordeaux: The defending champions have a fairly strong history, but their main claim to the throne would be their current form. First place in Ligue 1 and top of their difficult Champions League group.

AJ Auxerre: They’ve never been relegated from Ligue 1. If that’s your criteria, than AJA is the largest club in France. Otherwise, you’d be hard pressed to find a reason.

So, what are your thoughts? Which club is the biggest in France? If you think I’ve left anything out, tell me in the comments. This is now open for discussion.

Le Mans UC 72 0 – 1 AJ Auxerre

AJA pushed into the top three, at least temporarily, as they eked out a win against Paolo Duarte’s side, who are currently firmly in the relation zone. Speaking of Paolo Duarte, here’s an excellent interview he gave to the Ligue 1 official site. The interviewer is rather bold, asking some interesting questions, and also seems to have been reading to much Harry Potter lately, referring to Jose Mourinho as the ‘Chosen One’.

FC Lorient 5 – 0 Boulogne Côte d’Opale
(No video highlights available at the point–I have seen none of this match)
I’m going to assume from the scoreline that this match was total destruction. It’s also further proof that Boulogne are going down and Cristian Gourcuff is a half decent manager.

AS Monaco FC 0 – 0 Grenoble Foot 38

Some stellar goalkeeping from Ronan Le Crom gave Grenoble their first point of the season, and they dominated the match. A bit of a shock for Monaco, who were playing at home and went into the weekend in third place. Check out the Monaco Offside for a more complete review later.

AS Nancy Lorraine 0 – 1 AS Saint-Etienne

A wonderful goal from the quickly rising star of Dimitri Payet proves key for ASSE, and bumps a frustratingly inconsistent Nancy down to 10th place. Check out the Saint-Etienne Offside for a review.

Paris Saint-Germain 0 – 1 OGC Nice

Guess who’s even more inconsistent than ASNL? PSG of course. Last weeks victory wasn’t a turnaround, simply a performance on which to base false hope. PSG completely dominated the match, but it was Nice who put the ball in the NET. I give credit to Mounier and Remy for the beautiful cross and header. The PSG Offside will have something up soon.

Valenciennes FC 1 – 1 Montpellier Hérault SC

Did you know that these two teams were the highest scoring in Ligue 1? I certainly didn’t. Anyway, Colombians ran the show, but the result didn’t really change anything. Don’t you wish we had a Montpellier Offside?

Sochaux-Montbéliard 1 – 2 RC Lens

Lens pulled out of the drop zone with this victory and grounded Sochaux in the bottom half of the table. Be sure to visit the Lens Offside for more.

LOSC Lille Métropole 2 – 0 Girondins de Bordeaux

In one of the unexpected results of the evening, surprise bottom feeders LOSC upset Ligue leaders Bordeaux. Both sides put on displays of how to miss one on one’s with the keeper, but Gervinho’s dribbling ability eventually won the match for Lille. Visit the Bordeaux Offside for more.

Toulouse FC 3 – 2 Stade Rennais FC
Some nice goals in this matchup, TFC eventually coming out on top. APG seems to have rediscovered his scoring touch, but Moussa Sissoko seems to have no intention of stopping to let Gignac take over. Check out Dave Trotter’s review at the Toulouse Offside.

Olympique Lyonnais 5 – 5 Olympique de Marseille

Match of the century? It’s certainly a candidate. I’ll let the Lyon and Marseille Offsides elaborate.

While Bordeaux, Lyon and Marseille have already been grabbing the headline this week with their performances in the Champion’s League, the attention now turns to Lille and Toulouse for their games in the Europa League.  I’ll be honest, given the Ligue 1 performances earlier this week, expectations are rising– will they be able to live up to them? 

Genoa vs. Lille

Lille sits in the top spot in Group B thanks to their 3-0 win in France two weeks ago against Genoa.  Genoa will hope they can avenge their biggest defeat in European competition when Lille visit them at home on Thursday.  While Genoa may have some extra motivation, Lille can travel to Italy with confidence having won all three of their previous matches in Italy…without even conceding a goal.  Despite their domestic blunders, Lille have been on fire in Europe this season, having won all six of their seven games thus far, winning six of their last seven away matches (the only loss was to MU in the first Champions League knock out stage in the 06/07 season), accumulating more than an average of two goals per game and maintaining a less than one goal conceded per game average.  This is not to say that Genoa is not stiff competition– with the exception of their away game against Lille, they have been tough opposition.  This is especially true when they have played at home, having won six of their last seven European home games (the loss was to Ajax in the UEFA Cup semi-final match in the 91/92 season).  Both teams need a win here to have a chance of getting out of the group– especially with their games against Valencia looming in the future.

Toulouse vs. Shakhtar Donetsk

Toulouse, who were humiliated two weeks ago by Shakhtar in a 4-0 defeat in Ukraine, will be hoping to register a win to keep their European chances alive.  This will be tough.  Shakhtar, the current title holders (at least UEFA Cup title holders), have the extra motivation of knowing that if they win this game they will have secured their passage to the knock out stages.  Shakhtar have demonstrated their ability to come to France and win– they have won three of their five games in France.  On top of that, Shakhtar have established an impressive shooting average this season, having scored at least 4 goals in each of their group games thus far and their only loss in Europe this season is the 1-0 loss they suffered against Barcelona in the Super Cup.  But, don’t count Toulouse out just yet.  They have been building momentum in their domestic games, and Moussa Sissoko has the ability to turn a game around in Toulouse’s favor.

So can Ligue 1 make it 3-0 today?  Bordeaux and Marseille both managed some amazing wins yesterdays with Bordeaux beating Munich 2-0 in Germany and Marseille crushing Zurich 6-1 at the Velodrome. Today Lyon are the last Ligue 1 team to play this week in the Champions League.  Be sure to check back tomorrow for my Europa preview. 

Lyon vs. Liverpool

Lyon  already managed to beat Liverpool at Anfield two weeks ago– now they just have to manage the same feat at home.  Sounds easy, right?  Well, except this is Liverpool– a team known for coming back strong when their backs are against the wall.  Rumor has it that Rafa’s back is so hard against the wall that if he doesn’t win this match, he will be clearing out his desk tomorrow.  Gerrard is out, and Torres is injured but they are so desperate that he may be called up anyways.  For more details– check out the Lyon-Offside for their preview.

Matchday 4 begins shortly (literally in almost an hour from the time of this post).  So let’s quickly rundown what Ligue 1 action is happening today. 

Marseille vs. Zurich

Marseille are once again in an all or nothing position where they have to win game 4 in order to have a chance of getting 3rd place (and maybe, a small possibility of 2nd place).  Zurich is facing the same consequences, though they are under less pressure with lower expectations.  It will be interesting to see how OM react– will they step up or wash out?

For a more extensive review– see the Offside-OM.

Bayern vs. Bordeaux

Bordeaux lead their group and are undefeated in Europe this season.  The same cannot be said for Bayern after losing to Bordeaux in game 3.  It will be interesting to see how Bayern react, especially in front of their home crowd.  Bayern are suffering some serious injury problems with Franck Ribéry (knee), Ivica Olić (calf), Breno (illness) and Christian Lell (illness) all out, as well as Arjen Robben (knee) and Edson Braafheid (ankle) looking doubtful.  Bordeaux are only expected to be missing Henrique (knee).  That being said, Bayern are unbeated in 8 games at home in Europe, while Bordeaux have lost three of their last four away games in Europe (though they managed a draw against Juventus in matchday 1).  For more details check out the UEFA preview.

Rennes 0-3 Valenciennes

Rennes dominated from the off, having a Peter Hansson goal wrongly dissalowed, followed by numerous chances including an Ekoko shot that hit the bar. The first goal came a little way into the second half, when Valenciennes’ new center-back Dianbobo Balde headed in from close range. This was followed by two beautiful goals from Valenciennes, the first a superb long range individual effort from Fahid Ben Khalfallah, the second a stunning Gregory Pujol shot that hit the crossbar twice and than bounced out, crossing the goal line in the process. Needless to say, the Stade de la Route de Lorient was stunned.

Nice 1-0 Le Mans

This match turned sour early on when a scuffle for the ball between Mamadou Bagayoko and Geder resulted in a red card for the Le Mans defender. Le Mans dominated the chances, but it was Nice who broke the deadlock when Ismael Gace headed in a corner. Le Mans had several chances to tie it up but the match ended 1-0 to the delight of the fans at the Stade du Ray.

Sochaux 1-4 PSG

Check out the PSG Offside for a review later. I can guarantee you it’ll be there.

FC Girondins de Bordeaux 1-0 AS Monaco FC

This match, which happened to be a battle between first and second (which no one would have predicted at the beginning of the season), was much less exciting than last year’s version. Planus’ tap in off a Wendel free-kick kept Bordeaux in control of the top spot and allowed Lyon to overtake Monaco and move into second place.

US Boulogne Côte d’Opale 1-2 AS Nancy-Lorraine

I believe I predicted earlier that the only direction Boulogne were going was down. I think I was correct. USBCO fell to an unimpressive and inconsistent Nancy side who were without Gennaro Bracigliano, maintaining ASNL’s top ten position, and proving that Boulogne really are nothing more than a Ligue 2 side.

Grenoble Foot 38 0-2 LOSC Lille Métropole

An 11th straight defeat for Grenoble. They’re just way to unlucky. They hit the crossbar twice in this match, while Lille scored on each of their two shots. Mickael Landreau has returned from injury, starting in the net for LOSC, and Gervinho has continued to impress.

Racing Club de Lens 1-1 FC Lorient Bretagne Sud

Check out the Lens Offside for a full review.

Olympique de Marseille 1-1 Toulouse FC
Check out the Marseille Offside for a full review.

AS Saint-Etienne 0-1 Olympique Lyonnais

This was just the kind of storybook derby that I was expecting. Former Sainte favorite Bafetimbi Gomis started on the bench for Lyon, and the match remained pretty even until Gomis was brought in late on. Only minutes later, he put in the winning goal on a volley from a corner.