Matchday 1: In Underdogs we Trust, Apparently

By: Sam | August 4th, 2007

Aaaand, they’re off! It feels good to be writing match reports again, folks, especially when the first week handed us some pretty delicious upsets. How about this? Caen, Valenciennes, and Nancy all won. How does that taste, half the population who has these three pegged as relegation fodder? Also, in the early match, Marseille was held to a draw at Strasbourg, as were PSG at home to Sochaux. Same score at Lille, playing host to Lorient. Bordeaux won against Lens in what was perhaps the most important match. Two matches were played Sunday, those of Le Mans-Metz that ended in a dull 1-0 win for the home crew and Lyon-Auxerre, that the Gones won comfortably enough, 2-0.

(9) Strasbourg 0-0 Marseille (9)
In this, the first match of the season, much was expected of the visitors, hoping to get a jumpstart on their potentially voracious season. However, Strasbourg happened to show up to the stadium as well. It was them that got the first chance, with Pascal Johansen sending a tricky free-kick near post that Carrasso did well to smack away. Marseille struck back with a chance of their own not ten minutes later, with Bolo Zenden letting a knuckleball fly through a sea of teammates and opponents, but Stéphane Cassard dove perfectly and stuck out a firm left hand. The other big chance fell to Strasbourg again, when in the second half, Renteria found himself alone against Carrasso, but was foiled by the goalkeeper’s knee. A good point for the resilient strasbourgeois, who if anything deserved three, and a mixed-feelingful one for OM.

(4) Bordeaux 1-0 Lens (15)
Laurent Blanc’s first match as a manager proved to be a victorious, albeit not that eventful. The only goal came in the thirtieth minute via the simplest of tap-ins from new signing David Bellion, after a wonderful display of passing on the right flank from Chalmé and Alonso. The following quarter-hour in the first half paved the way for some fine goaltending, with a good save from Ramé, then two brilliant ones from Vedran Runje. The second half, however, didn’t live up to the first. Few chances on goal came to be, but it has to be said that Sidi Keita now has the honour of being the first player sent off this season, after a clumsy tackle on Wendel in injury time.

(1) Valenciennes 3-1 Toulouse (18)
Hey, VA, weren’t you supposed to suck? And Toulouse, aren’t you supposed to rock? Odd. At Stade Nungesser, the locals were treated to some encouraging play from their side. After all of three minutes, newcomer Johan Audel got on the receiving end of an impeccable cross from Sanchez and met Douchez, whom he curtly waltzed around to score. Six minutes later, TFC responded, on a well-hit ball from Nicolas Dieuze that keeper Nicolas Penneteau should definitely should have stopped. On the half-hour mark, it was Audel again who put his side back in front, with a simple header after he was served the ball on a silver platter by Bezzaz who did well to do it. Savidan hit the post just before half-time, he could have made it three. But as the gods would have it, it was Audel’s night and his alone. He added his third on 57 minutes after a good run from Mater on the right and some bad defending in the box. After the goal, many decent opportunities came along, but the goalkeepers stood their ground. In the end, a fabulous result for Valenciennes, who against mountainous odds are temporarily on top of the league (and could very well be even after tomorrow’s matches). On the other hand, Toulouse aren’t drawing an intimidating picture for Liverpool.

(7) Monaco 1-1 Saint-Étienne (7)
The two perhaps most disappointing sides from last year start out this one with a logical draw. Les verts had the first chance, when Nivaldo got a header off towards goal that Flavio Roma pushed away nicely. It was then Jérémie Janot who showed off his skill with two cool, calm saves on 22 and 25 minutes. Then, just before the interval, Jérémy Menez almost got a break for Monaco, but hit the post and ended up earning the corner. Plasil took it, and found the formidable frame of Frédéric Piquionne, who placed an unstoppable header on the grass next to Janot to open the scoring at a critical time. Against his former team, no less. But, three minutes into the second half, Monaco’s François-Joseph Modesto commited the most blatant tugging foul of all time against Ilan, and it was Pascal Feindouno who stepped up and top-cheesed it to tie the score. The match went back and forth and back again for the remaining forty minutes, but neither side could find a seam. There ya have it. A good result for both.

(9) Paris Saint-Germain 0-0 Sochaux (9)
You want bad luck and good goalkeeping? You got it, sucka. In their debut at home, Paris started with a good show from their portier Mickaël Landreau, who turned away Maurice-Belay and Dagano brilliantly in the first half hour. Then, just before the break, Pauleta’s try hit the post, starting a string of “argh” moments for the home side. Sochaux’s keeper Teddy Richert produced some magic of his own, notably on 51 minutes off a very good Pierre-Alain Frau strike. Amara Diané then hit the friggin’ post on no less than his first touch of the night in the 67th minute. In the late going, first there was Luyindula who couldn’t cope with the frightening but perfect challenge from Richert, then Pierre-Alain Frau, who SOMEHOW didn’t score on a gift from Jérôme Rothen, but rather hit the crossbar when he had, say, a good portion of the net to hit instead. Afterwards just prior to added time, Landreau denied a Quercia lob attempt to salvage the draw.

(9) Lille 0-0 Lorient (9)
In a potentially attack-happy match, it was rather the lack of chances and unfortunate injuries that stood out. Lorient had the first clear chance on twenty minutes when Abriel let go of a screamer that went just over Malicki’s bar. Lille got a chance of their own five minutes after that, with Fauvergue messing up in front of Audard after good work from Mirallas (keep an eye out for him). At half-time, Lille’s Cabaye was subbed off because of an injury. Four minutes into the second half, the whole ground cringed when Fabien Audard inadvertently gave Ulrich Le Pen a knee-bash to the face and left the Lorient midfielder on the ground for a few minutes. It was then Rami’s turn to get injured, and he too looks to be in bad condition after doing something to his knee in a routine individual battle. Not much besides those unhappy incidents happened in the rest of the game. A bit disappointing for Lille.

(4) Caen 1-0 Nice (15)
The beginning of this game showed the middle finger to those who said it wouldn’t be the match of the century quite clearly, with at first Vincent Planté making a good save against Ederson. Jemaa tried to strike back, but his attempt missed the net by a centimetre. Ederson had a chance again a few minutes later, but this one went over the bar. And after half an hour of silence, Hugo Lloris made his first impact of the season when he very nicely smacked away Jemaa’s strike. The chances went from one end to the other in the second half, and eventually, somewhat against the run of play, Caen’s Lilian Compan rose above his marker and sent a looping header over Lloris who had crept off his line for the first Offside-sponsored goal of the year. And it would end like that, thanks very much. Promising result for the Malherbistes.

(2) Rennes 0-2 Nancy (19)
Although it was the Bretons that came in flying, it wasn’t them that made the difference when it counted. Yep, it was Nancy, the underdogs, who came away with the win after two goals in quick succession late in the first half. First, in the 37th minute, it was Marc-Antoine Fortuné who got the first on a deadly finish after some good work from Hadji. Then, an eerily similar goal came for Nancy four minutes later when Youssouf Hadji finished Fortuné’s work with a well-timed run and a precise lob. Nancy even hit the bar on a Kim header, but couldn’t add more. They didn’t really need to, though, as they glided to their first win afterwards.

(4) Le Mans 1-0 Metz (15)
The match many had pegged as the most boring one lived up to expectations. There was no real chance until the 27th minute, when on a corner, Sessegnon recovered and sent in a cross that Serbian defender Marko Basa jumped perfectly to meet and placed a textbook-perfect header over Trivino for the only goal of the match for MUC. Agouazzi had most of the half-chances for Metz, but seldom found the frame of the goal. Le Mans had the chance to make it two in injury time, but Douillard was foiled by the goalkeeper on a breakaway.

(2) Lyon 2-0 Auxerre (19)
In the very last match of the opening week, da champz welcomed legit challengers Auxerre to their abode for l’affiche de la semaine as we call it. After a few quiet minutes, it was not Lyon but AJA who got the first oohs and ahs when Benoît Pedretti smashed a free-kick agaisnt the bar. Two minutes later, Sidney Govou had a glorious chance of his own but put the ball over the gaping cage. On 33 minutes, a few moments after a very good save from Sorin, Jérémy Toulalan jumped on a bad clearance attempt and cruised forward to serve Milan Baros, who got away and chipped Sorin impeccably, one-nil. Lyon had the monopoly of opportunities afterwards but couldn’t double their lead, until Govou picked up an errant ball at midfield and zoomed up, feeding Karim Benzema at the top of the box, who took a few steps and pounded a great ball past Sorin for the second. Game over, fool. Lyon starts their season with an unsurprising win. Of note: The five Ligue 1 sides represent here on The Offside (Caen, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, PSG) didn’t concede a single goal in their first matches! Woo us!