League Cup: Business As Painfully Usual

By: Sam | November 1st, 2007

The Round of 16 of the Coupe de la Ligue rounded to a close today, with Le Mans beating Ligue 2 misfit Chamois Niortais. Here’s a rundown of what went down and what is scheduled to go down in the quarter finals.

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