My Coupe Runneth Over: Holders Bordeaux Fall to Lowly Metz!

By: Sam | September 27th, 2007

We were blessed this week with the Round of “32″ of la Coupe de la Ligue aka la Coupe en Carton aka la Coupe dont on se balance complètement aka the League Cup that doesn’t instill quite as much passion and excitement as a walk in the park. Kidding, of course, but still, yeah, this ain’t no Coupe de France. Regardless though, the fourteen (hold on, I’ll explain in a bit) matches provided some statistical spectacle, with 19th-placed Metz seeing off current second-place and CdL defending champ Bordeaux, PSG finally owning Lorient even if it’s not in the league, Caen beating Toulouse on penalties, and three Ligue 2 clubs moving on to the next round.

Now, as for that pesky little thing about there being 28 teams in the Round of 32: You’ll notice Lyon and Marseille didn’t participate, seeing as they finished 1-2 in the table and recieved a bye for the next round, where the competition will enter a structured, American-style format akin to the NCAA Basketball tournament.

But now, the matches that took place.

As mentionned above, the big upset of the round was at Chaban-Delmas, where FC Metz, who had recently obtained their first win of the season at the hands of Caen, turned the tables on last year’s winners Bordeaux, and won by two goals to one. Gabriel Obertan opened the scoring for the hosts, only three minutes in, but second-half goals by Barbosa and Gueye changed the scoreboard around. Yum!

Another dramatic come-from behind victory was held at Angers’ Stade Jean-Bouin, a neutral venue for the late affiche of Nantes-Monaco. The Ligue 2 favourites took no prisoners in the first half, scoring two before the match was 35 minutes old, through Claudio Keserü and Marek Heinz. But in the second half, two goals from Brazilian Nené, including a sweet free-kick and a well-set up goal by Serge Gakpé gave the never-say-die Monégasques the victory in the end.

In the last couple of years, Lorient of all clubs, have been Paris Saint-Germain’s annoying little cousin that kicks you in the back of the legs at the semi-annual barbecue. Well, the annoying cousin just got perscribed a dose of ritalin. That’s right, at le Stade du Moustoir, the visitors finally found the key to beating les Merlus, and they did it in convincing fashion, thrashing them 3-0, thanks to two N’Gog goals and a late one from the still-going-strong Pedro Miguel Pauleta.

Go south a few hundred clicks and you’ll find le Stadium in Toulouse, where a wild one took place between Toulouse and the up till then depressed little Stade Malherbe. Tied at two apiece after ninety, Toulouse then went ahead early in the extra-time period, only to see their opponents level in the last minute. And you can only guess what came next: Penalties, which Caen took, 4-2.

Let’s not forget one of the most anticipated matches of the calendar, a bonus edition of le Derby du Nord, pitting Lens against Lille at Amiens’ Stade de la Licorne. Only one goal came of it, an ahem*offside*ahem goal, but a beautiful one, from Belgian international Luigi Pieroni.

All the scores:
Nancy 3-0 Boulogne (L2)
Brest (L2) 1-2 Montpellier (L2)
Niort (L2) 3-2 Le Havre (L2)
Auxerre 1-0 Saint-Étienne
Lens 1-0 Lille
Clermont (L2) 0-1 Rennes
Lorient 0-3 PSG
Valenciennes 2-1 Sochaux
Laval (National) 0-1 Le Mans
Bordeaux 1-2 Metz
Toulouse 3-3, 2-4 p.s.o. Caen
Troyes (L2) 0-1 Nice
Strasbourg 0-2 Amiens (L2)
Nantes (L2) 2-3 Monaco