After a night scented with history and nostalgia, the Reims stadium validated its ticket for the final of the French Cup. Forty-eight years old he was waiting for this. An eternity. And yet, facing AS Cannes, it is not a walk that he knew, but a real duel of cups, with his frights, his heroes and his sighs. The little one resisted, the big one trembled. But the hierarchy ended up talking. 2-1 victory, direction the Stade de France.
We may have been waiting for Cannes to have to undergo. But it was the Azureans who manifested themselves first, from the 2nd minute, by Abbas, just to recall that the feat cannot be decreed, it is trying. Opposite, Reims was able to respond quickly and well. And it was the young Ibrahim Hafiz, 19, who took care of opening the ball. In the 14th minute, it arises in the area to take back a center behind Diakhon, untenable on its side. The first is the right one. Reims takes orders.
The return of Cannes, then the immediate slap
Cannes does not give up. And on the return from the locker room, the dean of the match, Cheikh Ndoye, 39 to the clock, gushes to the second post to catapult a corner of the head. 1-1, the stadium exults, the stands tremble. But the euphoria only lasted six minutes. Time for Reims to reply with calm and efficiency. Hafiz again, in all the good shots, distills a perfect ball for Teddy Teuma, who adjusts Vanni without trembling. 2-1. Cannes had just equalized, Reims already regained control.
It was then half an hour left, and we would have thought that Reims was going to unroll. But the missed opportunities have left a doubt. In the 66th, Dominguez almost drew the draw from a whim, but Evann Diouf watched. In the 73rd, Diakité lacks the goal of the KO. And the last minutes, tense, have given nothing.
Reims writes a new page, Cannes can take out your head high
Reims will find PSG for a final with an impossible perfume. But in Reims, we like epics. Cannes, he leaves the scene, not beaten, but greeted. Worthy. And if the story has not been written to the end, it will have already given a little light to the Croisette.
