The final ten games in the Coupe de France round of 64 feature some tasty match-ups, and the team have been digging for details.
Chasselay CFA v Istres L2
Chasselay – full name Monts d’Or Azergues Chasselay – get their day in the spotlight this weekend when they host Ligue 2 strugglers Istres. Although the club name won’t ring a bell with you, the name of their stadium certainly will – the Stade Ludovic Giuly being named after the club’s most famous son, who has returned home, via Lyon, Monaco, Barcelona and Rome amongst others, for a final swansong.
The prodigal son’s return hasn’t had a great effect on the club’s league form, as they sit third from bottom of their CFA group, having lost their last three matches. The club’s cup run has provided a welcome tonic, however, and Chasselay reached this stage of the competition with a 3-1 win over Saint Dizier, managed by ex-Metz, Marseille and Strasbourg striker Mamadou Niang.
Istres, meanwhile, are in the relegation zone in Ligue 2, although they are coming into this match off the back of two impressive results, holding resurgent Nancy to a draw and then becoming the first team to leave Lens with three points. It’s a classic stick-or-twist cup scenario – do they play their first team, hoping a win will provide a springboard for their league form, or do they give their first-teamers a little more rest before the second half of the season? Either way, Lyon’s little neighbours Chasselay will be hopeful of an upset, taking them further than they have ever before gone in the Coupe and, who knows, maybe a tie against Nantes and another illustrious former player, Remy Riou.
Pontarlier CFA2 v Caen L2
Ligue 2′s highest scorers and promotion candidates Caen cross France to visit the Doubs region, and Sochaux’s neighbours CA Pontarlier. Sitting fourth in their regional CFA2 division, behind the Nancy, Metz and Troyes reserve teams, the Pontissaliens will be hoping that their new partner’s cup pedigree rubs off on them: the club recently signed a partnership agreement with Saint-Etienne, with the main aim of developing their young talents. CAP also know how to win a trophy, however, albeit on a smaller scale, as they are the current holders of the Coupe de Franche-Comte.
Pontarlier reached this stage by “giant”-killing CFA’s Sarre-Union, with Letellier and Senegal’s Coly scoring the goals in a 2-0 home win at the Stade Paul Robbe, and they are in impressive recent form, unbeaten in their last ten, including draws away to Nancy and Metz B. Free-scoring Caen, led by top scorer Mathieu Duhamel, are also in good form, with only one defeat in their last seven. Pontarlier coach Jean-Luc Courtet is under no illusions: “It is going to be very difficult against this team and everything will depend on their level of play. But if we have a small chance of creating an upset, our players will give everything to do so”.
Caen have said that this match is crucial in order to set them on the right track for the second half of the season. But, sitting in 8th place in Ligue 2 and, therefore, with a bit of catch-up to play, they must surely have more than half an eye on the Ligue, and that might be the opening that Pontarlier need.
Chambly Thelle CFA v Angers L2
Ligue 2 side Angers travel north to the outskirts of Paris to take on CFA side Chambly Thelle in what will be a dangerous and cautious task for the side riding high in France’s 2nd division. Chambly sit in 9th place in Group A of CFA, but have gone 10 games unbeaten since September and are a two-game winning streak (streak? ed.). After dispatching District side Moulien 0-1 and CFA 2’s Chantilly 1-2, this will be Chambly’s biggest test but also their first home game in the competition.
Expect a huge crowd to turn up at the Stade Municipal in St Leu La Foret, just south of their normal home at the Stade des Marais, but an increased capacity and passionate crowd could cause problems for Gregory Malicki in the Angers net. The Ligue 2 side will need to up their game, as they were forced into penalties in the last round by CFA side Villenave. Two goals in injury time stunned the Ligue 2 side, and they had to squeeze out the shootout victory. If they are off the ball again, Chambly could pounce.
Aubagne CFA2 v Dijon L2
Ligue 2 promotion contenders Dijon have a nice trip towards the seaside, as they travel down to Marseille’s neighbours Aubagne, who currently lie a lowly 11th out of 14 in their CFA2 group – one place above everyone’s favourite cup minnows from last year, Venissieux-Minguettes.
Aubagne have won four of their last five in the league, however, as well as reaching this stage of the Coupe with a 2-0 home win against Le Puy Football 43 Auvergne, in the Au-ico, and so will welcome the Dijonnais with confidence.
As for the Dijonnais, who showed no mercy in putting six past Division d’Honneur team Fabregues in the last round, they have named a strong squad but are yet another side who must surely be prioritising their campaign to return to Ligue 1 at the second time of asking.
Aubagne is currently most famous in France for being the headquarters of the French Foreign Legion. Fred Cravero and his players will be hoping to show some of that organisation’s famous esprit de corps in order to put Dijon to the sword and give Aubagne another claim to fame.
La Roche-sur-Yon CFA2 v CA Bastia L2
Confusion reigns in the mercato as super eagle Sunday Mba has signed for Bastia’s second team, dead last in Ligue 2 and looking nailed on for a quick return to the third tier. Whether the Nigerian international (who scored the winning goal in the CAN 2013 final) will feature here is a toss-up, but if he does, look out for some howitzer-like finishing. They could certainly do with the help – they have 9 points and only 8 goals in the league, needed penalties to beat DH side Plouvon in round 7, and then missed from the spot in their 2-0 win at another DH side Chassieu Decines in the last round.
Three levels below them, La Roche have had an interesting cup run so far, beating National side Le Poire-sur-Vie 2-0 in round 5, and CFA’s Fontenay 3-0 in round 6, before stuttering against a district team, AJ Kani Keli, in a game that saw them throw away a two-goal lead to be down 3-2 at half time, before roaring back for an 8-3 victory. Striker Anas Zahrawi got a hat-trick in amongst the chaos, and could be worth keeping an eye on. There’s a big gulf between the two sides, but with CAB looking in a world of trouble elsewhere, the result could depend on whether the Ligue 2 side have decided to say ‘sod it’ and go for a cup run, or try what they can to avoid relegation.
Magny DH v Moulins CFA
District side Magny have been fairly lucky so far in the Coupe de France. A penalty shootout win over Cournon was followed up with a 2-1 victory over Charvieu-Chavagneuxthat gave them the chance to continue the dream run against CFA side Moulins. It would be unthinkable for Magny to make it to the last 32… but it’s definitely possible.
Moulins are on a good run at the moment, winning five out their last six games, their copybook only blotted by a 1-0 loss to Mulhouse. They sit 4th in their CFA Group, only seven points off top spot and promotion to the Championnat National, which is not unthinkable. Moulins’ form puts them in a strong starting point but the loss against Mulhouse shows they are not invincible. The Stade du Plateau will become a fortress for Magny, and Moulins will need to be at their best to overcome the home advantage. A great chance for both clubs to advance.
Boulogne NAT v Beauvais CFA
After surviving a scare at lowly US Marquette in extra-time in November, seaside town Boulogne then squeezed by Schiltigheim by a single goal. Now they face a home game against CFA Group A side Beauvais.
Boulogne’s slip from the top has been quick and drastic, from Ligue 1 in 2010 right down to 8th place in France’s third tier, the Championnat National. Any sort of cup run would be a welcome break from their poor league form and give the USBCO fans something to cheer about.
Coach Stephane Le Mignan has built a young team that he hopes will develop into a Ligue 2 side, but for now it’s up to the likes of 29-year-old Nicolas Raynier and former Villarreal striker Mauricio Alves to provide the cutting edge and help nurture talents such as 21-year-old Mohammed Chemlal until they are able to perform at the highest level.
Their opponents aren’t having the best season so far, 10th in CFA Group A, but recently results have picked up. They are five games unbeaten including wins in the previous two rounds of the Coupe de France. They survived a shock in Paris after being held 1-1 against Boulogne-Billancourt, but edged them on penalties. With only one division separating the two sides, this match is wide open, perhaps home advantage for the National side will prove the tipping point.
Les Herbiers CFA v Plabennec CFA
Two local sides from the West of France will battle for a place in the last 32 of the Coupe de France this weekend. Coastal side Plabennec are rock bottom of CFA Group D having lost eight of their 13 games. 230 miles down the coast, Pays de la Loire side Les Herbiers are enjoying a wonderful season, only one defeat in 13 games puts them 2nd behind Saint-Malo, and only Les Herbiers four draws puts them five points behind the league leaders.
Form goes out the window with the cup and Plabennec have shown before that they can cause problems in this competition. Last season they beat Reims at this stage and took the lead against Lille in the last 32. Now they have a chance to upset one of the better teams in their division.
These sides have yet to meet this season, and they will actually meet in the league two weeks after the cup fixture. Last season they ended the campaign with a 1-1 draw when two first half goals ended the excitement after 17 minutes. It’s hard to separate the two sides lately; Les Herbiers followed up their 3-0 loss in March 2012 with a 2-0 win at Plabennec. Although there may be 13 places separating the two sides this season and Les Herbiers scoring 16 goals more than their neighbours, this will be one of the closest battles this weekend.
Poissy CFA2 v Concarneau CFA
The home team have beaten only one higher-ranked side in their six games to reach this stage, the wonderfully-named CFA team Villemomble 1-0 in the sixth round; meanwhile in five games Concarneau have faced nobody from a higher division, and have conceded at least one goal in every round. Poissy head CFA 2 Group B with only one defeat in twelve matches, a 2-0 defeat at Croix early on in the season, meanwhile Concarneau are 5th in CFA group D, just behind the Nantes reserves.
With 20 league goals apiece, this looks like it could be a tight encounter where the teams’ respective top-scorers Patrick Etshimi and Jeremy Drouglazet, both on six goals, could be the key men.
La Cayolle DHR v L’Ile-Rousse CFA2
7th tier Marseille La Cayolle will be heaving a slight sigh of relief just to kick off this match – not only have they had to fight through seven rounds already to get this far, but they only found a stadium to play in with less than a week to go; Stade Turcan in Martigues will play host. While they needed penalties to see off a couple of District teams, they then started flaying some bigger opponents, including two CFA teams (Le Pontet and Marseille Consolat) before a 4-1 trouncing of CFA2’s Ales in the last round.
They will be facing a stern test from Balagne Ile Rousse, however, who sit 4th with a game in hand in CFA2 group E, and who have mostly been laying waste to Corsica in the earlier rounds, with victories over PH sides Ghisonaccia (4-0), Ajaccio Imperial (8-1), and DH side Borgo (on penalties) before killing a relative giant in National’s GFCO Ajaccio 1-0. A stroll over a district side followed, and then a 4-2 win to CFA’s Villefranche. With both sides having already proved they can punch above their weight, this could be a tasty affair.