Matchday 22 - Lyon winless in four, football gods laugh at sport gamblers

By: Sam | January 28th, 2007

I’m running out of oh-so-slick titles to suggest that Lyon’s current winless streak is completely unexpected, thought-provoking and very funny. So yeah, this time, it was 19th-place OGC Nice that stole points from the leader. You really wonder how they manage to do that, when you’re starting a string of fellows named Coupet, Cris, Reveillère, Abidal, Squilacci, Kallström, Juninho, Malouda, Toulalan, Baros and Govou. Regardless, here’s how it went down.

At Lyon’s Stade Gerland, Nice’s Ivoirian midget Bakary Koné got the ball rolling (oooh, pun!) with a little show that ended in the net when he gave Coupet the pichenette treatment. Look it up. However not more that five minutes later, newcomer Milan Baros potted his first goal as a lion thanks to Govou’s big fat workage in Nice’s fragile defense. Fred could’ve ended Lyon’s misery, but he had the genius to shoot his penalty wide with ten minutes left in the contest. Lyon are now in first place with a 13-point cushion. It’s getting closer…

And the newest team to sit right under the slumping big boys is last year’s third-place finishers, Lille, who hopped into second after a nice one-nil win over Bordeaux. Lille’s newest, Ludovic Obraniak, had free kick duties when he was subbed on at the 77th minute. He didn’t score. He left that up to Bordeaux’s Moroccan international Chamakh to plough into his own net. In French, an own goal is called un but contre son camp. That proved to be enough to have Lille sit two points in front of the next in line, Lens.

The same OM, who were in Le Mans for the second time this week after eliminating them in the Coupe de France, had the statistical edge going into this crucial match. Turns out Le Mans didn’t read the paper. And with a little help from the referee, they pulled away with the three points.

Marseille’s Ronald Zubar had his goal dissallowed for a non-existant offside position in the eighth minute, and their bad luck continued when Niang’s strike smacked the post a few minutes later. Le Mans broke through on Fanchone’s goal on 38 minutes after a quite nuts scramble that could’ve seen a foul or two go either way. Then with ten minutes remaining, OM’s Valbuena was called for a foul he clearly did not commit on Le Mans’ Camara. Grafite converted the ensuing penalty, and the match ended 2-0. With that, Le Mans climbs into ninth place, while Marseille slips into fourth.

Now, would it be the same if I didn’t tell you about Paris Saint-Germain’s unfruitful tries to grab a win for the first time in __ games? This time, it was the eleventh match without three points that Paris finished. A scoreless draw at home against the minnows Sochaux at least saw them into sixteenth. But they can glare at Sochaux’s brilliant goalkeeper Teddy Richert for keeping them out of the Win column. Sochaux is now in fifth place, still an admirable result for the club that no one loves or hates.

Last but not least, Saint-Étienne was visiting Lens for possibly the most important game of the week, with the teams sitting at sixth and fourth respectively. What a game! Saint-Étienne looked to be running away with it, after a dominant first stanza in which they finished 3-0 up, strong with two goals from Heinz and one from the revamped Gomis. However in the second, Keita potted a “consolation” for Lens. Then on 89 minutes, Coulibaly brought them to within one. Too little too late however. Just kidding. Keita scored his second to the immense pleasure of the hometown fans, and the game ended in an incredible 3-3.

Other scores: Nantes 0-2 Lorient; Rennes 1-0 Valenciennes; Sedan 0-1 Monaco; Toulouse 1-1 Troyes; Auxerre 2-0 Nancy; Lens 3-3 Saint-Étienne