CFA news

[guignol]

Ol is not just a 4 time L1 champion. you see that kit on fields all over lyon, and the 8 year olds are sometimes just as impressive in their own way as the big boys.

The OL B team has covered itself in its share of laurels in recent years; CFA champs in 1998, 2001, 2003 and 2005, and (gambardella) cup winner in 1997; they lost a heartbreaking final to toulouse last year when the double was in tantalizing reach... that's a learning process too.

they provide some great (and free) football to watch. many of the players also do stints in the A team (Clerc, Truchet, Hauw, Ben Arfa, Benzema) and vice versa. last year wiltord, cacapa, nilmar, frau and clement all played at least one match on field n°10.

[guignol]

After a morose start to the season, the B team got back on track last saturday, beating sochaux 3-0 with goals from mounier (10e), benzema (28e) and bettiol (78e). two assists for ben arfa, who, hey just may be the next zidane. the defense of clerc, paillot, genet and truchet were serene to say the least.

this saturday it's a match at the top at leader martigues. a victory would start the ball rolling for a repeat of last year's championship very nicely!

STANDINGS

team/pts/played/W/D/L/GF/GA/GD

1 MARTIGUES 12 4 2 2 0 3 1 +2
2 GAP FC 11 4 2 1 1 8 4 +4
3 NICE 2 11 4 2 1 1 9 6 +3
4 LYON 2 11 4 2 1 1 7 4 +3
5 ST PRIEST AS 10 3 2 1 0 8 4 +4
6 MONTPELLIER 2 10 4 1 3 0 5 3 +2
7 BESANCON 10 4 1 3 0 3 2 +1
8 JURA SUD-LAVA 10 4 1 3 0 3 2 +1
9 BG PERONNA FC 9 4 1 2 1 5 2 +3
10 FREJUS 9 4 1 2 1 6 6 0
11 CASSIS CARNOU 9 4 1 2 1 5 5 0
12 LE PONTET 9 4 1 2 1 4 4 0
13 SOCHAUX 2 8 4 1 1 2 6 7 -1
14 LYON DUCHERE 8 4 1 1 2 3 5 -2
15 MONACO 2 7 4 1 0 3 3 9 -6
16 AGDE 6 4 0 2 2 2 6 -4
17 ENDOUME MARSE 6 4 0 2 2 5 12 -7
18 RACING 92 4 3 0 1 2 2 5 -3

note: a win is 4 pts, a nil 2 and a loss 1.

[SportBoy333]

Poor Racing 92 :-( I see theres another Lyon team in this division.

[matpio]

Poor Racing 92 :-( I see theres another Lyon team in this division.
Yes, Lyon Duchere.
La Duchere is the name of a neighborhood in Lyon, it has no specific relationship with the OL team. Eric Abidal, who is now the starting left back in Olympique Lyonnais (when he's not injured), used to play for Lyon Duchere when he was younger.

[Tony the French]

Allez Frejus !!

[guignol]

the juniors learned the hard way that "dominer n'est pas gagner". the first half in martigues went all their way, red & gold keeper gibert had to make a brilliant double intervention against bettiol in the first minutes, then it was viale, and then benzema twice.

but just after halftime it was martigues' dutil, with his team's first shot, that opened the score (48). without continuing their first half domination, OL still had the better of the match; martigues was tiring, and the petit gones never gave up. at full time ben arfa put a juninhesque free kick into the cobwebs from 20 metres that gibert just managed to punch away, and marigues defender dalé had to save a viale header off the line at 90+3.

disappointment, yes. especially when a victory would have put OL clear on top and this loss drops them to 4th or 5th place. but it's still a long season, and won't it be better if the kids have to fight tooth and nail for their 5th tiltle in 7 years than get it on a silver platter?

[guignol]

Poor Racing 92 :-( I see theres another Lyon team in this division.actually more than that: St. Priest is a lyon suburb, and bourg peronnas is close too. in cfa2 there's AS minguettes, where luis fernandez started his career, and alain caveglia still played today (for the veterans)

[guignol]

the CFA team has another away match this saturday, this time they go to fréjus, currently in 6th place.

also saturday, the 18-year-olds play their first home match. they opened their season with a 3-2 victory in marseilles, hattrick by mounier: a name to watch?

[guignol]

The fréjus match was postponed.

this saturday, the reserve squad, reinforced by no less than Pedretti, Frau, Ben Arfa et Benzema, did themselves a good turn, beating Gap 4-1

the match started at a wicked tempo in front of about 800 fans, with several good chances from Bettiol and Frau. Benzema finally opened the score in the 19th minute with a goal he earned with some superb work.

just after the half hour Grégory Bettiol doubled the lead with his 3rd score of the year.

OL was hard pressed after the second goal, and conceded a penalty only a minute later. Machado beat Riou to get Gap back in the match. just at the half, however, Pierre-Alain Frau struck to give OL some comfort before headed to the locker room.

leading 3-1 the Lyonnais were content to guard their result, and slowed the pace of the match down until Julien Viale came on to score the fourth goal just at the end (87th).

OL is presently in 8th place in group B 7 points behind leader Nice, but 4 points from their match in hand against fréjus would put them 2nd.

[guignol]

a beautiful afternoon in lyon yesterday, sunny and even warm. and what better way to spend it than watching the reserves win a kind of derby against bourg-peronnas! among the 1500 fans were houllier and aulas himself.

on NT weeks there are some pretty big hitters for the CFA matches: yesterday riou and hartock were both in bayonne to play norway friday (5-0 victory for the U-19), so they were replaced by... vercoutre. frau and pedretti were also there, but the big news was eric abidal's return to competition, and he looked tip-top!

ben arfa was back from wednesday's 4-0 U-19 victory (poor norway!) where he had two assists, one going to benzema.

the first chance was for bourg, a big shot that vercoutre had to block and grab in two goes. then it was all lyon's way. ben arfa played a free kick short to pedretti who boomed it home.

OL started the second half slowly, but were reminded quickly that no game wins itself when bourg levelled on a fine collective goal. first to answer the wakeup call was julien viale with a fine header; PAF followed up and ben finished the job with a second strike.

a fine day out and cheap at twice the price! in two weeks a real derby: saint-priest.

[guignol]

so what's left to do this year? well, the kids are still in a battle on two fronts.

tomorrow they go to sochaux for a CFA makeup match. they're on a hot streak away, 4 wins and a nil.

they still have a great chance to win their group; second place, 5 points behind leader martigues with a match in hand and 7 to play [note: as for most amateur championships a win is 4 points, a nil 2 and a loss (on the field) 1, only a forfeit gets 0 points]. they're 5 goals better in differential too.

then on sunday they go to arles for the quarterfinals of the gambardella cup.

so there's still a double possible! ;)

[Riesenschniedelwutz redded]

Lyon will win the League

[guignol]

a disappointing loss at sochaux 1-0.

coach robert valette played a very young squad, saving players for the upcoming gambardella quarterfinal.

they're still second, and second is good enough to get to the final stage (the CFA has four groups) but now it's nice that's menacing, they're 3 points behind us in third but with a match in hand.

the question is whether there will be reinforcements from the A-team for the final run up to glory... OL can (and sometimes does) field a CFA team that wouldn't be too far out of place in L1!

[guignol]

OL makes the final 4 for the Gambardella Cup

Patrick Paillot's kids showed lots of determination in Arles, winning 0-2 on late strikes by Karim Benzema (87') and Anthony Mounier (90+2').

After a flat start to the match by both sides, OL gradually got the better of underdog Arles, but their control of the match didn't translate into scoring until Benzema's FK from 20m went in off the post 3 minutes from time. Arles' bubble was definitively burst a few minutes later when Karaboué sent through Mounier for the clincher.

Riou
Faussurier, S. Paillot, Charvet, Migliore
Remy (Karaboué 58'), Beynié, Brugniaud (Plessis 46'), Mounier
Benzema (Valdivia 87'), Ben Arfa.

Lyon now goes to Melun for a neutral ground semi against Le Mans May 7. The other semifinal pits Nancy, who beat Auxerre 1-0, against Strasbourg, winner over FC Metz in a 5-4 PK shootout.

after that, it's the final in the Stade de France; if the OL juniors make it it will be their second trip in a row. last year they lost to Toulouse with the double CFA-Gambardella on the line.

[guignol]

two big wins for the juniors that put them 9 points clear in 2nd place, and within striking distance of leader martigues, 2 points back with a better goal differential.

1-2 at Montpellier
OL2 saw off 4th place montpellier with double by bettiol. notable appearance at the back by françois clerc, and jeremy berthod playing next to his little brother alexandre.

3-1 over Racing '92
after a shaky start that saw Racing's Kharbouch open the score on 14', Bettiol struck twice in the first half, and served up the third to Mounier in the second.

[guignol]

time for an update...

saturday OL's youngsters are going where the big boys didn't manage to get this year: the stade de france! in their second straight gambardella cup final they'll meet stasbourg.

as for the league, they lost to endoume 3-2 in marseille, but qualification for the playoffs was already assured when they beat agde the previous week. this friday there's a derby at field N° 10 against lyon-duchère, and then the semifinals on the 30th or 31st will likely be another derby... ASSE!

[Pierre-Henri]

Strasbourg kids will crush you ! Strasbourg is the best team ever, we're munificent, we're invicible, we rule !

Funny no, the best vs the worst in Gambardella ? But I'm really happy we have a lot of good kids and an excellent soccer school in Strasbourg. It gives some hopes for the future.

[guignol]

congratulations... sniff... :(

and good luck in the Pro A playoffs too... sniff, sniff... :( :(

[guignol]

the B team is going up against toulouse (who beat us in last year's gambardella final) to win a spot in the CFA playoff final... no pros in the lineup except for n°3 keeper remy riou, so it's not going to be a walk in the park... if i get off work early, and it's not raining, i"ll pick up guignol jr. at school and go cheer them on.

other amateur news:

also against téfécé, the women's A team qualified for the challenge de france finals (ladies coupe de france) with a last minute goal by sandrine dusang and a PK shootout. they'll meet montpellier in clermont-ferrand on june 16.

at the same time on a neighboring pitch, the n° 3 girls team became french champions at their level beating claix 4-2, and arrived all made up in red and blue, a club tradition you've doubtless seen elsewhere...

the 14 year olds imiated the big boys, becoming federal champs with 80 points and a goal differential of +61. 18W/4N/0D... second place Avignon was 18 points back, and ASSE 19.

the benjamins (U12) finished 2nd of 32 in brussels, eliminating Werder Bremen, West Ham, PSG and Inter de Milan, losing the final to Molenbeck 1-0.

finally, news from portugal: the bluets beat serbia-montenegro 2-0 to win their group and make the semis of the U21 euro with goals by an ex and a future gone, bergougnoux and toualalan. berthod and clerc played the whole match again on defense, and with three clean sheets in the tournament, one can say they're not doing badly.

[guignol]

victory over toulouse 1-0 on a goal by milan thomas!

i got off work early with the idea of going, but the weather was on the unpleasant side of nippy, and it started showering just as we left school, and guignol jr. in just a hawaiian shirt... plus mountain of homework (him, not me ;) )project cancelled.

but this friday is the final against rennes! fair warning nambawan, in the immortal words of nikita krushchev:

WE WILL BURY YOU!