Everyone loves a David vs Goliath clash in the cup don’t they? Well in the Coupe de France nothing says small vs big than a CFA team hosting one of the giants from Ligue 1. Of the 32 cup games taking place this weekend only a select few can boast this occurrence and one of them is AS Yzeure vs Lorient.
The fourth-tier CFA team are currently second in group B, with 41 points from 13 matches so far, just behind Epinal who are on 42, In the CFA only the top team is promoted so while a cup run is always good fun, promotion is always going to be the primary objective. They won their last match in the cup on penalties against a fellow amateur team, but they will be for a much sterner test when Lorient come to town.
AS Yzeure
Yzeure will be hoping to spring a surprise and they’ve got some firepower in their ranks. They have two players in the top ten goal scorers in their league and the most dangerous of the pair is Lucas Franco. The 22-year-old forward has scored six league goals this season and half of those have been the opening goal in the game. He’ll be the main threat that Lorient will have to keep an eye on. Whatever the result, it should make for a great afternoon’s football with Yzeure’s Stade de Bellevue having a maximum capacity of 2,500. The record attendance at the ground was against rivals AS Moulin and it stands at 2,225, so it will be interesting to see if that’s broken over the weekend.
Unfortunately for Yzeuere they have been given a bad draw in terms of which Ligue 1 side they could have faced. Lorient are unbeaten in seven matches and they’ve won five of those games. They’ve also got one of the country’s in-form strikers in the form of Vincent Aboubakar, who has six goals in his last six matches and in the only game he didn’t score – the 2-0 victory over local rivals Rennes – he was instrumental, winning the first minute penalty and terrorising the away side’s backline.
Last season Les Merius finished 8th in Ligue 1 and although they’re only 11th now, they’ll definitely be looking to push on in the second half of the season. Christian Gourcuff has done a terrific job with the Breton side and if he can get Aboubakar and Jeremie Aliadiere firing together he could be on to a real winner. In a similar vein to Yzeure, his side will want to focus on the league but a cup run would be nice. What team Gourcuff sends out will give a big indication of how seriously they’ll be taking this competition.