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.

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.

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 3-0 Le Mans UC 72

Bordeaux, inspired by their victory against Bayern midweek, got back to winning ways against a Le Mans side currently sitting in the relegation zone.

US Boulogne Cote d’Opale 1-3 AS Monaco FC

Monaco left it late against a quickly falling Boulogne side to climb into second place. That Nene just can’t stop scoring!

Grenoble Foot 38 1-2 AS Nancy-Lorraine

This was a painful loss for Grenoble. On track for their first points of the season after gaining their first lead in the 53rd minute, they fell to two late goals.

OGC Nice 4-1 Olympique Lyonnais

The shocker of the evening. The score says it all. Nice handed Les Gones their second straight loss and climbed out of the relegation zone, while Lyon dropped down to 3rd place. Check out the Lyon Offside review here.

AS Saint-Etienne 0-2 Valenciennes FC

Okay, maybe I was wrong about Sainte’s summer signings. Why are Valenciennes so good?

FC Sochaux-Montbeliard 1-0 FC Lorient

Sochaux continue their push up the table with a solid win against a solid team.

Stade Rennais FC 3-0 Montpellier HSC

Montpellier went into this match in 2nd place, enjoying their fairytale season. Rennes got down to business and banged in some goals. Fairytale over.

Group Winners (Seeded):
AS Saint-Etienne
OGC Nice
Olympique de Marseille
AJ Auxerre

Second Place Finishers (Unseeded):
FC Sochaux-Montbeliard
AS Monaco FC
Olympique Lyonnais
Grenoble Foot 38

The draw will take place in the comments. Yes, I actually will put eight slips of paper in two bowls. Anyway, the group stages were a great success, a total of 180 votes were cast. Ready yourselves for the thrilling draw.

The games happening this weekend are…

Week 9 – Saturday, October 17, 2009
19:00	AJ Auxerre				Girondins de Bordeaux
19:00	Le Mans UC 72				Boulogne Côte d’Opale
19:00	Olympique Lyonnais				FC Sochaux-Montbéliard
19:00	Montpellier Hérault SC				AS Saint-Etienne
19:00	AS Nancy Lorraine				Olympique de Marseille
19:00	Valenciennes FC				Grenoble Foot 38
21:00	LOSC Lille Métropole				Stade Rennais FC
Week 9 – Sunday, October 18, 2009
17:00	FC Lorient				OGC Nice
17:00	AS Monaco FC				RC Lens
21:00	Toulouse FC				Paris Saint-Germain

While the table is currently looking like this:

1	Olympique Lyonnais	8	6	2	0	+10	20
2	Girondins de Bordeaux	8	6	1	1	+10	19
3	Montpellier Hérault SC	8	5	2	1	+6	17
4	AS Monaco FC	8	5	0	3	+2	15
5	Olympique de Marseille	8	4	2	2	+4	14
6	FC Lorient	8	4	2	2	+2	14
7	Paris Saint-Germain	8	3	4	1	+4	13
8	Stade Rennais FC	8	3	3	2	+6	12
9	AS Nancy Lorraine	8	3	2	3	+2	11
10	AJ Auxerre	8	3	2	3	-1	11
11	Valenciennes FC	8	3	1	4	0	10
12	AS Saint-Etienne	8	3	1	4	-2	10
13	LOSC Lille Métropole	8	2	3	3	-3	9
14	FC Sochaux-Montbéliard	8	3	0	5	-5	9
15	Toulouse FC	8	2	2	4	0	8
16	Boulogne Côte d’Opale	8	2	2	4	-5	8
17	RC Lens	8	2	2	4	-6	8
18	OGC Nice	8	2	2	4	-8	8
19	Le Mans UC 72	8	2	1	5	-3	7
20	Grenoble Foot 38	8	0	0	8	-13	0

Since most of the matches in Ligue 1 happen at the same time, I’m going to make some recommendations for matches to see. Obviously you will want to see your club’s game, but here are a few others worth glancing at.

Montpellier-Herault SC vs. AS Saint-Etienne
Today, 19:00 (1pm Eastern 10am Pacific)
I’m interested in this match because it’s another proving point for both sides. Was Les Verts win over Bordeaux a fluke, or are they going to continue their climb up the table? Montpellier are the Cinderella story of the season thus far. Will they assert their position as a title challenger, or drop back into the midtable region? These questions could very well be answered in this match. I’ll be tuning in.
Probable Lineups:
Montpellier: Jourdren – Yanga-Mbiwa, Dzodic, Spahic, Jeunechamp – Pitau, Marveaux, Costa – Aït-Fana (ou Lacombe), Montano, Dernis

Saint-Etienne: Janot – Andreu, Benalouane, N’Daw, Dabo – Landrin, Fernandes, Matuidi, Payet – Augusto, Bergessio

LOSC Lille Metropole vs. Stade Rennais FC
Today, 21:00 (3pm Eastern, 12pm Pacific)
This is a battle between two of the best teams in Ligue 1 who aren’t in our “Big Three”. These are the clubs you would expect to see in the Europa League places. This season, both sides are lower than they’d like to be in the table, Lille hanging around at 13th while Rennes are barely staying in the top ten in 8th place, only a point in front of 10th place Auxerre. Expect a tense atmosphere and no more than two goals.
Probable Lineups:
Lille: Butelle – Béria, Rami, Chedjou, Emerson – Cabaye, Debuchy, Dumont – Gervinho, Hazard – Frau

Rennes: Douchez – Théophile-Catherine, Fanni, Aubey, Danzé – M’vila, Br. Cheyrou, J. Leroy – Bangoura, M. Sow, Thomert

I’ll add my two for tomorrow later, but rest assured that Toulouse-PSG will be one of them…

You may completely disagree with this list, think it’s terrible, that I’m the worst blogger ever, whatever. Tell me so in the comments. And to tell you the truth I probably don’t agree with it much either, but I compiled it in half an hour, and I feel exhausted after fixing it innumerable times. Tell me what you think.

AS Monaco FC

Classy and classic. Nothing out of the ordinary for Monaco.

Monpellier Herault Sport Club

Boring. Plus ASNL finally have competition for “Busiest shirt in Ligue 1″ with all the ads on this rag.

AS Nancy Lorraine

As I said before, Montpellier have got almost as many, if not more, clashing advertisements than ASNL. However, Nancy actually have a somewhat stylish shirt when without the ads.

OGC Nice

I like these shirts. The color combination is great and the gold trim is the icing on the cake. The away kit is especially nice (hehehe).

Paris Saint-Germain

So, you’ve got a club with a history of great kits and have been sticking with one nice model for ages. So, what do you do? Well, if you’re Nike, you change it into some boring all blue affair with pinstripes. Ack. And the away shirt. Um…polkadots? Oh yay! We love polkadots in Paris! Grr.

Well, I guess it’s time to vote now. Don’t vote for PSG. We have to shame them into bringing the old ones back.

Which club will be victorious from Group 3?(opinion)

Vote Away!

UEFA Champions League
It was an auspicious start when Stade de Reims-Champagne reached the final of the inaugural European Champion Clubs’ Cup, only to fall to a late Hector Rial inspired comeback from Real Madrid.

French clubs continued to impress in the following years, Including another final appearance for Reims in 1959 along with numerous appearances in the quarterfinals from Nice. A period of European drought followed, without a team in even the quarterfinals until AS Saint-Etienne did one better by making it into the semifinals in 1975. Sainte continued to up their European performance, making the final in 1976, only to lose to FC Bayern Munchen by a score of one to zero.

For the next nine years the only events of note were a single quarterfinal appearance apiece for Les Verts and Strasbourg.  However, in 1985 Bordeaux famously gave Juventus a run for their money in the semifinals, coming off of a three-zero drubbing in Turin to put in two late goals at the Chaban Delmas.

In the late 80’s Bordeaux and Monaco’s occasional appearances in the quarterfinals were the only events of note, so It came as a bit of a surprise when Olympique de Marseille began to dominate in the early 90’s. In 1990, their first appearance in the later rounds, they lost to Benfica in the semi’s on away goals. The next year they went one better, making the finals against Crvena Zvezda only to suffer a heartbreaking loss. The match ended 5-3 on penalties after a zero-zero draw.

Only two years afterward, Marseille were in the final again. This time it was against giants AC Milan, in the first ever UEFA Champions League.

Nearly forty years after Reims lost at the Parc des Princes, a French club had won the European Cup. The next three years brought three successive semifinal appearances. In 1994 AS Monaco lost to eventual champions Milan (video). The next year PSG were eliminated in the last four, again by the Rossoneri (first leg, second leg). FC Nantes barely lost to Juventus in 1996, missing out on a final appearance by a goal (first leg, second leg). French clubs continued their good fortune, Auxerre losing to eventual champions Dortmund in the quarters in 1997 (first leg, second leg), while Monaco made another semifinal appearance the year after that, this time losing to Juventus (first leg, second leg). There was a short period of relative quiet after that, until Monaco shocked many by making a run to the final.

As you can see, the principality club were embarrassed by Jose Mourinho’s FC Porto in a resounding defeat. In the next few years, as you probably know, Lyon became the dominant French force in the Champions League, making three consecutive quarterfinal appearances from 2004-06, but have failed to come further than the first knockout round in the past three years.

Grenoble Foot 38 2-3 Montpellier HSC


OGC Nice 3-2 Valenciennes FC

Paris Saint-Germain 1-1 AS Nancy Lorraine

Stade Rennais FC 0-1 AJ Auxerre

AS Saint-Etienne 3-1 FC Girondins de Bordeaux

FC Sochaux-Montbéliard 1-0 Le Mans UC 72

RC Lens 0-2 Olympique Lyonnais

US Boulogne CO 2-3 LOSC Lille


Toulouse FC 0-1 FC Lorient

Olympique de Marseille 1-2 AS Monaco FC

Enjoy the highlights!