Coupe de France: You Say Barnsley, I Say USJA Carquefou

By: Sam | March 19th, 2008

Everyone knows that every year there’s that one lower-division club that makes a mockery of a few bigger names in the domestic cup, wherever it may be. French fans usually name Calais or Lyon-La-Duchère, or Monceau-Les-Mines as we saw last year. But hey, hey, what do you say- We’ve got a new David on the scene these days, and he just took down one hell of a Goliath in the Round of 16 of the Coupe de France, which took place Tuesday and Wednesday. I give you: L’Union Sportive Jeanne d’Arc Carquefou.

Carquefou 0-1 Marseille
0-1 N’Doye 7′

After disposing of a handful of amateurs, this bunch of fifth-tier rabble-rousers from just outside Nantes took the pitch against the mighty Marseillais at la Beaujoire, home of FCNA, in what was, of course, to be the end of their Cinderella story. Not! They beat Ligue 2 cellar-dwellers Geugnon 1-0 in January, then raised more than a few eyebrows by offing third-place Nancy 2-1 in extra-time last month, and what do you know, they repeated the feat against possibly the most in-form team in the country at the moment. Idrissa N’Doye took a long ball and scooted past OM second-string keeper Cedric Carrasso, who had wandered off into no man’s land and netted the only goal of the match before it was ten minutes old. OM then proceeded to miss a host of chances and went out of the competition in the most humiliating way possible. Hats off to les Carquefoliens.

Lyon 2-1 Sochaux
1-0 Benzema 56′
1-1 Traoré 90′
1-2 Benzema 90′+1

What a finish at Gerland on Tuesday. In what was potentially an explosive match, with Alain Perrin facing his former side (with whom he had won the Cup last year, no less), who else but Karim Benzema was the star once again. Beating the offside trap oh-so-nicely ten minutes into the second half, he beat Richert for the first goal. All seemed wrapped up before Kandia Traoré cracked a quick shot on net that Gregory Coupet absolutely shit himself on, basically punching the ball into the back of the net. Lucky for him, his younger compatriot took advantage of some shoddy defensive work on the other side of the pitch and tapped in the winner from an inch away no more than a minute later. The holders are out, the favourites are still in.

PSG 2-1 Bastia
1-0 Arnaud 18′
1-1 André 23′
2-1 Arnaud 68′

If you can’t win in the league, you might as well do it in the cup. Fielding a very young eleven featuring Arnaud, Sakho and N’Gog among others, Paul Le Guen’s ass was this close to the electrical fence going into this encounter with one of Ligue 2’s best. Thankfully, a very decent display from his men saw them through to the quarters. Loris Arnaud was on the end of a great team goal on eighteen minutes, but everyone forgot about that one five minutes later, when Pierre-Yves André scored with a stunning volley from twenty-five yards out to level the score. Arnaud got a brace with twenty minutes later though by deftly poking the ball past Ejidé. It’s okay to breathe, PSG fans.

Bordeaux 2-0 Lille a.e.t.
1-0 Menegazzo 95′
2-0 Bellion 114′

Bitter defeat once again for Lille, who were hoping to pull something off with Rio Mavuba against his former employer. It took a while, granted, but Fernando Menegazzo picked up the pieces in the penalty area a few minutes into extra time and David Bellion finished the job a few minutes before the final whistle.

Lorient 0-1 Metz
0-1 Bessat 62′

In a battle of not-that-great-at-all Ligue 1 sides, it was the least-great one that emerged victorious, thanks to a Vincent Bessat strike on the hour mark. Could this be the sole bright spot in what is one of Metz’s worst seasons of all time?

Sedan 2-0 Angers
1-0 Abdoun 32′
2-0 Sow 90′

Last year’s top-flight big losers continued their unlikely cup run by offing Ligue 2 misfits SCO Angers thanks to goals by former Ajaccio midfielder Djamel Abdoun and former Rennes man Moussa Sow.

Dijon 3-1 Tours
1-0 Boateng 53′
2-0 Schumacher 62′
2-1 Atik 84′
3-1 Schumacher 90′

In a cracking second half, Dijon booked their ticket to the last eight by fending off third-tier Tours thanks in part to a brace by Brazilian Schumacher (yeah I know) and one from Charles Boateng. Former Montpellier midfielder Fatih Atik bagged one from the spot for Tours.

Amiens 1-1 Arles (4-2 p.s.o.)
0-1 Poirier 23′
1-1 Buengo 90′
Struggling in Ligue 2, Amiens had to rely on a bit of luck to see amateurs Arles off, needing a last-minute equalizer from Buengo to cancel out Poirier’s first-half opener. They proceeded to claim the victory on penalties.

So yeah, there’s your eight matches.

And yeah. I’m back.