Matchday 29 - Lack of total domination? What lack of total domination?

By: Sam | March 19th, 2007

With nine weeks remaining in the season and a ludicrously close table, both at top and bottom, every game counts. Everyone says it, but in Ligue 1, four points separate third and eleventh place. Moreover, four matches this weekend featured a clash between two Top 11 (presitgious, I know) sides. Crucial as you like.

The soon-to-be champs Lyon were visiting struggletastic Nancy, where they hoped to solidify their stance as undisputed lords of the Ligue, and to get back on track after dropping a win in injury time to Marseille and being eliminated from the Champions League in the games leading up to this one. Said Lyon in unison: Yeah, whatever. Their match found its legs only at the half-hour mark, when Jonathan Brison blasted a shot that hit Coupet’s crossbar and barely stayed out. Two minutes later, Baros had himself a goal that he must’ve been thanking St. Patrick for, when Squillaci’s header hit the crossbar, an opponent and seemingly everything in between before going into the net off his thigh. Once again in the second half, not much happened early on, barring Coupet’s deese save off Fortuné. On 76 minutes, smooth Swede Kim Kallström gave Lyon the 2-0 ball on a cracker of a strike from a bad angle, nailing the ball over Gregorini and into the corner. Fred would head home the winner five minutes later, on a free kick that had him all alone and waiting for the easy goal. With Lens’ loss, Lyon are now sixteen points clear of second.

So yeah, Lyon and Lens are pretty solidly in first and second up there. Forget them, what’s PSG up to? With nine matches left, including five on the road and three against the top 3, the Parisians will have to be tough as hell to get out of where they are. Where they are being second-last, one point in front of lanterne rouge Sedan. Playing their first of two straight games on the road at Rennes on Sunday, a win would’ve been nice. This match really got underway half an hour in, when Utaka and Pauleta got chances in the last ten minutes of the half. Landreau was solid in goal for Paris. He was in on the action again, two minutes into the second when he denied Briand the opener. Rennes’ young gun Pouplin was impressive as well, as he slapped a PSG free kick expertly over the bar. He was there again to box away Kalou’s attempt. It was on 76 minutes that France’s youth international Jimmy Briand would find the solution. Leaping impressively over Mendy to reach a Utaka cross, he dodgedly headed in the only goal of the match, out of reach for the sorry Landreau. Traoré hit Pouplin’s crossbar in the last minutes, before assisting to Mendy’s sending off for tackling Briand rather barbaricly. Oh, oh, oh what are PSG going to do?

And who can talk about PSG without talking about OM? Eighth place: Not so good. Eighth place, within two points of the Champions League. Getting better. Saturday’s game? Very good. Le derby azuréen between Marseille and Nice is always a big game, regardless of both clubs’ up-and-down seasons so far. At the Vélodrome, Niang didn’t waste no time and got the first goal six minutes in, when he nudged a header over a confused and out-of-place Hugo Lloris. An unusual goal from Renato Civelli came ten minutes later, when a Valbuena corner deflected off Kanté’s sorry thigh and found its way to the young Argentinian who made no mistake and left no chance to Lloris. Five minutes from half-time, the in-form Niang was once again in the middle of things as he capped off a fast break from the Marseille midfield with a beaut strike to make it 3-0 at the half-time interval. Quite literally nothing close to being a goal happened in the second, except maybe Djibril Cissé’s strike missed the net by a handful of inches midway through. Nice, who were previously on a seven-match unbeaten streak, are still in a woeful 16th place, only two out of the red zone. Marseille’s win didn’t give them immediate benefits in the table, as they stayed in eighth place, but still very much in there.

Perhaps the most important match of the day was Lille hosting Le Mans. Lille, in a fragile third place at the time, needed of course a win to stay on course as much as possible. Le Mans, on the other hand, needed one to get on course. Bangoura opened the scoring on 68 minutes on a point-blank effort. Bodmer came that close to equalizing ten minutes from time, but he hit the post. Le Mans’ Brazilian Grafite then showed off his brazilatude in injury time when he shrugged off, it seemed, all of Lille’s defense and slid the 2-0 ball past Sylva.

Lens, in second, were also facing a side that were just on the bubble of contention. No bigger cushion for the sang et or who dropped a 1-0 decision to Auxerre, thanks to a 17th-minute goal from the Dane Thomas Kalenberg.

Other scores: Sochaux 4-2 Toulouse; Monaco 2-1 Nantes; Sedan 1-1 Bordeaux; Saint-Étienne 3-1 Troyes; Valenciennes 0-0 Lorient