French cup

[nebo]

The Ligue 1 teams have continued to drop out of the competition. This weekend another 5 clubs were eliminated :
Ajaccio fell vs. Rennes (also L1)
Marseille fell vs. PSG (also L1)
Le Havre fell vs. Laval (L2)
Nantes fell vs. Lorient (L2)
Lens fell vs. Toulouse (L2)

For the next round (1/8 finals), only 6 L1 teams remain and 3 amateur clubs still linger on, with Schiltigheim from CFA2 (only the second best amateur division!!!) is still in the competition after beating L1 team Troyes in the last round and the L2 team Beauvais. Amazing stuff!

Even Libourne, that eliminated Lyon in the last round, managed to get to the next round after beating the L2 team Le Mans. The score was 1-1 after full time, and Libourne scored just before the end of the first 15 in extra-time. They looked to head for victory when Le Mans equalised in the 119th minute! The penalty shoot-out that followed was truly amazing. Both teams had chances to finish it off but failed at first. In the end it was the Libourne goalie that saved the last penalty which gave them the victory by 12 goals to 11 in the penalty kicks!

Martigues (N) also belong to the lowerdivision teams that have eliminated two teams from the proffessional divisionas. Sedan (L1) was beaten in the last round and Amiens (L2) had to pack there bags this W-E. Fantastic effort from a team from the 3rd division!!!

Bourg-Peronnas (CFA1) beat Dijon (L2) on saturday, and sent Strasbourg (L1) out of the competition in the last round. They are quite strong it seems, the amateur teams from France.

Here is the draw for the next round :

Lorient (L2)-Lille (L1)

Bordeaux (L1)-Wasquehal (L2)

Laval (L2)-Paris-SG (L1)

Martigues (National)-Metz (L2)

Angoulême (National)-Guingamp (L1)

Libourne Saint-Seurin (CFA)-Rennes (L1)

Bourg-Péronnas (CFA)-Auxerre (L1)

Schiltigheim (CFA2)-Toulouse (L2)

The league system works like this in France (for those of you who are not familiar with it) :

L1 : Ligue 1 - First division (Proffessional)
L2 : Ligue 2 - Second division (Proffessional)
N : National - Third division (Semi-proffessional)
CFA : Championnat de France des Amateurs - Amateur league
CFA2 : Championnat de France des Amateurs 2 - 2nd best Amateur league
DH : Divison d'honneur - 3rd best amateur league
"LAD" : Ligue Autres Division - Litterally means "The other divisions league and contains the rest of the French teams.

In CFA 1 and 2 you will also find the reserve-lineups for the teams in L1 and L2.

[nebo]

Btw. Isn't it time that the admins change the subtitle of this thread at Big Soccer forum? "2 * champions" still apply, but is a bit outdated and is somewhat insulting considering the result in the last World Cup...

[Socialist Revolution]

Thanks, nebo.

SoccerNet: French giant-killers get dream draws (http://soccernet.espn.go.com/headlinenews?id=256000&cc=5901)
Amateur sides Libourne Saint-Seurin and Bourg-Peronnas were both handed home ties against first division sides Stade Rennes and AJ Auxerre when the draw for the third round was made on Sunday...

[DennisM]

This time it's great. Unike last year where it was teams like Nimes, Sete and Reims, all of whom have been at the top in the past, it's really the minnows. Libourne is great. They have made some pretty good cup runs in the past. And being a wine village, when they party, they party! Also I love how with the exception of Bordeaux, all of the lower division sides will be playing at home. That's great. If only the English FA would listen. Of course, they could play at the smaller stadiums. Security. No reason. Just tell the people they have x number of seats and those with season tickets get first chances. Lottery system. The rest stay home. Anyway, the French Cup is really great for upsets. It's not like the Worthington Cup where the big teams don't take it seriously. I mean they do and they still lose. It's great.