My Coupe runneth over: Everyone loves a fourth-tier team in the semi-finals!

By: Sam | February 28th, 2007

Like Bob said in his article about the game today, only domestic cups can offer the nutsness that is amateur clubs upsetting the greats of the top flight. Let me tell you, France has a knack of doing just that. Montceau-les-Mines, we salute you. Lens, I remind you, is second in Ligue 1 with a five point lead on third place and have recently qualified for the Round of 16 of the UEFA Cup. Montceau, on the other hand, are 15th out of 18 teams in the table of Championnat de France Amateur, fourth layer of French football. Videos of all the games are below.

The meager score of 1-0 is however decieving, as one team dominated almost the whole ninety minutes. No fluke here folks, as that team was Montceau, who even hit the post a few minutes after Christophe Alidor converted a penalty on 79 minutes. Cheered on by 11,634 spectators at Gueugnon’s Stade Jean-Laville, the minots couldn’t believe what they had done when it was all over after three agonizing minutes of added time.

Lens, on the other hand, were in a state of shock.

Said François Gillot, RCL’s coach (Translated from French): Our efforts were insufficient in every sector. Technical, mental… When that’s the way it is, you’ll get trapped. We don’t know what didn’t work, but we do know that nothing worked.

The last time a team of Montceau’s caliber made it this far was in 2000, when Calais went all the way to the grand finale, where they lost, on a last-minute penalty mind you, to Nantes.

The other tiny little thing involved in the quarter-finals were the Bretons of Vannes. Playing on the pitch of Marseille’s formidable Stade Vélodrome, they were fancying their chances of taking advantage of OM’s current Ligue 1 suckin’ streak, which has seen them winless in five. Hey!, snapped every Marseille player. None of that! None of that was right. Mamadou Niang potted a very decent first one after about 150 seconds of play. The two goals that came next were somewhat of a comedy. Florent Talmont, Vannes’ stalwart defender, was called twice for handling the ball in the penalty area, which Maoulida and Cissé converted one after the other. Maoulida provided a nice fourth, and Pagis puffed his ball beyond the goal line for the fifth near the end of the match. Five-nil to OM.

Sochaux and Paris-SG were in charge of the best calibered match of the four. Paris, who are enjoying the start of a revival (they hope) under new head coach Paul Le Guen, had hopes of winning the Coupe for the second straight year to accomplish something in their poor season. Mickaël Isabey, Sochaux’s well-respected veteran captain, volleyed home a majestic first goal past a helpless Micka Landreau to open up the scoring. Dagano cleanly headed in a second thanks to a perfect cross from Isabey. With the hosts two-nil up, PSG were climbing back desperately, and got a small reward when Afolabi redirected Dramé’s cross into his own net fifteen minutes from full-time. Sochaux goes into the semis, to perhaps meet Marseille, who eliminated them in the Round of 16 of the Coupe last year.

Sedan and Nantes, the two crap teams of Ligue 1 this year, were drawn for the quarters in a match sure to impress the players’ mothers and not many more. Sedan, 20th in the table, drew first blood through Pujol, and not more than a minute later, Claudio Keserü drew even for Nantes, 19th in the table. Penalties came, and after not many saves, penalties went when Fabien Barthez dived the right way on Nicolas Marin’s so-so shot before Da Rocha converted to seal the deal and keep Nantes’ cup dreams alive.

The draw for the next round will be Sunday.

Montceau 1-0 Lens

http://www.eurosport.fr/football/coupe-de-france/2006-2007/mcplayervideo_vid35347.shtml

Marseille 5-0 Vannes

OM vs VANNES
envoyé par Vincent8Z

Sedan 1-1 (5-6 p.s.o.) Nantes
(Hella-long, I know)

Sedan - Nantes 1/4 de finale CDF
envoyé par jejeinho_8

Sochaux 2-1 Paris Saint-Germain
(Isabey’s goal only)

Sochaux psg isabey
envoyé par ljungberg15