Matchday 2: Slay that Lion!

By: Sam | August 13th, 2007

Ah, the second round of the season. Where dreams are made, but mostly where teams that won in the first match disappoint and where for the second time in a row, a totally him-out-of-all-people striker notches a hat trick. Three them-out-of-all-people teams now have two wins: Le Mans, Bordeaux and Nancy. And Lyon lost! Without further ado, here are the recaps.

(4) Saint-Étienne 3-1 Valenciennes (8)
Valenciennes, formerly on top of the table, needed to show everyone it wasn’t a one-game wonder. They didn’t. It was. In a relatively calm first half, Batéfimbi Gomis snatched his first of the season quite nicely, lobbing a charging Penneteau after running down a near-perfect ball from Dimitri Payet. Close to doubling many times, with a crossbar to boot, it finally came through the always brilliant Pascal Feindouno, who avoided the offside trap perfectly and had all the time in the world to almost let the breeze carry his shot into the far corner. The game came back from the dead three minutes from time, when Johan Audel bagged his fourth (!) of the season on a corner kick. But if any hope was born of that goal, it died a few minutes later, when Feindouno let go a handsome ballon piqué that mystified Penneteau. No, he didn’t slash his throat and mouth “Game over” after the goal.

(2) Nancy 1-0 Caen (9)
Due to the pair of surprising wins by these two in Week 1, this match provided an unexpected boost of importance. And important it was right from the get-go, as Nancy struck first, after only eight minutes. N’Guemo then Dia did some good work, and found Kim, who fired home clinically. The second was close to showing itself, but Gavanon whistled his free-kick onto the bar. The match was virtually devoid of anything after that, except for a Malongo strike for Nancy that Planté handled well and a Gouffran effort for Caen that didn’t materialize into anything. In the end, Nancy looks like a real slick bunch of guys, to everyone’s surprise, and it also looks like Caen needs to adapt to the elite.

(11) Toulouse 1-0 Lyon (7)
Does Lyon hate Toulouse? You bet your ass! Remember, TFC squeezed four points out of Lyon last season. But actually, we had to wait till the 12th week to see them lose, that was against Rennes. This year, it’s in week 2. Some exciting counters came and went in the first twenty minutes, Benzema even hit the post on a crunching header (although he was offside). On 35 minutes, Kim Kallström received a mean elbow from Dieuze and seeing there was no call, took his anger (and a sample of his blood) to the fourth official, and instead of altering the no-call, got himself sent off after a string of probably not-too-nice words directed towards the officiating crew. The end of the first and the beginning of the second half belonged to Toulouse, although not too many chances came to be. Lyon’s Keita could have opened the scoring, but his header found Douchez’s left post. And it continued, with many more half-chances for the hosts, until Achille Emana got a bit lucky in the penalty area and managed to feed Johan Elmander, who broke off and slid the ball past a sleeping Vercoutre. They could’ve made it two, when Elmander’s good work found Emana, who’s strike grazed the post. Ecstatic Toulouse fans celebrated the end of the match. Both sides now have a win and a loss.

(17) Sochaux 1-3 Le Mans (1)
Again, a battle of two not-that-great sides that turned out to be a goal-fest of sorts. On eighteen minutes, the already-showing-promise Slovenian Valter Birsa got things going with a splendid volley from thirty yards out past Pelé who had crept off his line. When that was done, it was time for The De Melo Show. The Brazilian first hit the crossbar soon after the goal. Remember the name, now: Tulio De Melo, who a few minutes later converted a penalty to level the score. Was he done? As the English say, sod that! De Melo blew past a number of defenders before sliding it past Richert for the second. I’ll say it again: De Melo. His third wasn’t quite as pretty, but did the trick as he controlled and finished in the very close vicinity of the net on the hour mark. Le Mans is now tops in the league with a 2-0-0 record and a +3 goal differential. Sochaux have a single point.

(5) Lorient 2-1 Monaco (14)
Both sides having drawn in the openers, by my line of thinking they probably wanted to win. The upstart Lorient boys got there first, with Raik Saïfi smashing home a great header on Vahirua’s free-kick, this on 14 minutes. On thirty, Saïfi struck again, in a tight angle after a bumbled ball in the box fell to his feet. It wasn’t over, however, after Serge Gakpé cut the lead in half after fighting off Ciani and finally popping it past a wandering Audard. Monaco had many chances to equalize afterwards, but just couldn’t, finding either a solid Audard or the side of the net. Will Monaco disappoint again this season? They’re not denying it so far…

(20) Auxerre 0-2 Bordeaux (2)
It hasn’t been the start AJA has been looking for so far, here’s proof. The first half of this one didn’t produce much, except for a Beckham-like penalty miss from Maoulida on six minutes. Until the end, that is, when Wendel scored a beauty of a free-kick past Sorin on the last play of the half. Not too long after coming back on, Wendel scored again from a ridiculously tiny angle after a deflected corner kick came his way. Oh, and ha-ha: Maoulida got another chance to score on a penalty, but hit the post. Can you imagine? Bordeaux was gliding after that one, and now have two wins out of two. Auxerre have zero goals and zero points.

(19) Metz 1-2 Lille (5)
Not the greatest of first steps for Metz in their comeback to the top flight. Although this match started off in energetic fashion, with Bastos and Makoun nearly scoring withing the first five minutes, followed by a Metz team effort that turned into a corner kick. Lille got on the board after twenty minutes through Michel Bastos, thanks to an uncanny corner kick that, well, went in straight. A few dozens minutes and not too many chances afterwards, Lichsteiner let fly a cracker that Trivino did very well to save. Metz had themselves an opportunity with fifteen minutes to go but Aguirre’s strike sailed just over. This, however, was just before Mame N’Diaye got loose and found the ball just outside the six-yard box and belted it through Sylva’s hands. Celebrations were short, however, because once again on a corner kick, Lille struck just before injury time, this time thanks to Marko Maric who was johnny on the spot far post. That would be that, thank you very much, Metz has yet to gather a point this year, whereas Lille has a very decent four.

(9) Nice 1-0 Strasbourg (15)
Another battle of possible bottom-table finishers took place at the Stade du Ray this weekend, and in fact turned out to be quite eventful. The first half-hour didn’t produce any goals, but provoked a few good saves from Cassard and Lloris. Adessadki could have bagged Strasbourg’s first of the season but met the crossbar instead. Nice then scored just before half-time but wait! offside. Never mind. Things got complicated shortly thereafter for the visitors, as Dos Santos got sent off for a second booking in the first minute of the second half. The goalkeepers exchanged great saves, until on a Hellebuyck free-kick, Vincent Hognon got the slightest of touches but managed to fool Cassard. Nice now has a win and a loss, whereas le Racing have one, with no goals scored.

(15) Lens 0-0 PSG (12)
The disappointing start to the season continues for both these sides, who despite their goals and dreams of Europe, have yet to win in the inaugral two matches. The first half was totally dominated by the visitors, with Diané and Luyindula (Pauleta on the bench for this one) picking apart the Lens back four but not finding the back of Vedran Runje’s net. The second half produced less chances, but around the end PSG had one and very nearly converted, with Digard and Luyindula teaming up but finding the mitts of Runje. The chance of the match came on 82 minutes, when Kanga Akalé pulled a rabbit out of his hat and crunched a spontaneous strike against Landreau’s bar. Nothing would happen afterwards.

(12) Marseille 0-0 Rennes (18)
In OM’s impatiently awaited home debut, they didn’t bring it like they would’ve liked, but they didn’t let Rennes bring it either. With a Nasri-full lineup, they almost got one early but Bolo Zenden shot a smidgeon too high. Then, on the half-hour mark, Nasri sent Ziani through, and the Algerian couldn’t find anything but a whole lotta post. A few chances for both sides came and went, but more than anything this was a very defensive effort from both sides, not necessarily a bad result. Note: neither team has scored a goal yet this season.