Yes Auxerre squeezed passed Boulogne ; it would have been crazy to see them crash out after Sochaux. Sunday, we will know if we will have Monaco-Auxerre in the semis or in the final (unless they play Nimes at Nimes ).
-Auxerre, cup winner in 1994, 1996 and 2003. -Monaco, cup winner in 1963, 1980,1985 et 1991 -Sedan (L2), cup winner in 1956 and 1961. -Nîmes (National), reached the final in 1958, 1961 and 1996. A few teams of L2 have reached the final, such as Chateauroux last year or... Sedan in 1999. But only once, a L2 won the competition : Le Havre in 1959. Nîmes was already in 1996 qualified for the final (they lost against... Auxerre), becoming the first team of french third division to qualify for the final of French Cup. In 2001, Amiens did the same but lost against Strasbourg in the penalty shoot out. Will French history change this year ?
Quite true... but if the draw gives us Sedan-Nîmes for the semis, the winner will be qualified for the UEFA Cup cause it's the rule, if the French Cup Winner qualifies for a European Cup by Le Championnat, which will probably be the case of Auxerre and Monaco. Being pessimistic, we could have two L2 teams in UEFA Cup next year : Sedan and Caen (if they win the League Cup). And Lille in Champions League. I don't think that it would be good for the sake of French soccer.
So very true. Caen and Sedan in the UEFA next year would ruin French soccer. In England, we had to put up with Millwall in the UEFA. Thus screwing up 1 of our 3 places. It would have been hundreds times better if Villa went into the UEFA instead.
I agree, the whole cup system in France sucks. 1- Playing a single game is not fair, since a team plays home. In league cup, Strasbourg played all its important games home. Even if it's good for us (this time), i find it deeply unfair. 2- In soccer, on a single game, everything can happen, even an amateur team beating pros. It leads to the weird results we often have. On one hand, it's fun to see amateurs like Calais or Schiltigheim at high level. On the other hand, Calais was only one game from UEFA a few years ago. Are Calais, Lorient, Caen, Sedan or Nîmes the best choices for representing the french league in UEFA ? => a single cup with home/away would be much more clever. You'd have 1 UEFA ticket for the cup winner, and 1 more for good league standing. All in all, as a Strasbourg follower, I'm in-between. I can't but agree this is unfair, but it's unfair in our favor. So it's bad, but it's good to see Strasbourg in UEFA next season. I'm I incoherent ?
I think they could follow the English FA Cup, minus replays of course and with a few touchups 1) Semis played at a neutral venue. 2) Scrap the 'lower team plays at home' rule. Which enables the smaller team to gain an advantage int he firts few rounds. It's silly, allow it to be luck of the draw. 3) Introduce a seeding system...? That said, all the above eliminates a cup surprise and giant killing - a part of cup football, we all know and love. The shame is, France is getting far too many giantkillers than it should.
True but that's the "charme de la coupe" I admit i was glad to see Nimes in a stadium in fire overcome Sochaux.
Yes, but it's a short term joy. Nîmes in UEFA ? What could they do ? French league needs more UEFA points, and teams like Nîmes won't bring any.
it's good for entertainment (the french love cinderella teams that take off big clubs) but yeah, not so good for uefa rankings. if a ligue 1 team cannot beat a team that's 2 divisions lower even if it's on away field, then it should revise the ways they motivate themselves before playing a "much weaker" team. iougs-
Yes Semi final draw Monaco (L1) v Sedan (L2) Auxerre (L1) v Nîmes (N) A Monaco v Auxerre final is ON!!!
Mixed feelings... of course we will have a great final, but a pity Nimes couldn't make it to the SDF after their brilliant performances.
bump Totally forgot that the Cup semis were being played this week. One semi-final result is already in... Auxerre (L1) 2-1 Nimes (N) [Kalou (pen) 46, Tainio 77; Verschave 90] [Sent off = Dembélé (N) 89] One done, another one to go.... Monaco (L1) v Sedan (L2) kickoff - 11:00 EST / 17:00 CET
Huge, huge shock.... Monaco (L1) 0-1 Sedan (L2) [Citony 74] Not the final, I wanted. And for the second time running, a Ligue 2 side is in the final. Grrrrrrrr. Now if Auxerre finish 4th, then the UEFA spot will go to the Arden side.
Bump. Cup Final Auxerre (L1) v Sedan (L2) Auxerre must win, as they have missed out on Europe this season.
Kickoff time is 20:45 local time, 14:45 EST - Saturday June 4th. I think its on TV5 stateside, hopefully someone can confirm. UK viewers get it on Eurosport, Channel 410 (kickoff time 19:45)
Confirmed. http://www.tv5.org/TV5Site/programm...ibelle_signal=TV5+USA&libelle_zone=Californie The times listed are Pacific.
Wow. Sedan "Boars" vs Auxerre .... the country contest.... I hope supporters won't get lost in the big city.
Final Result Auxerre (L1) 2-1 Sedan (L2) [Benjani 37, Kalou 90+; Noro 63] Fairly enjoyable game. I thought Auxerre had that little bit of good luck when it mattered and had that killer instinct. Although Noro's goal could have won any cup-tie. Cracking strike. Unlucky for Sedan, they battled hard, but fell to a sucker punch when Kalou met the cross first-time to poke it past the keeper in the 3rd minute of added time. The last kick of the game. Kalou who had actually just set foot in Paris, correction, France this morning as he helped Cote d'Ivoire to a draw in Libya, before jetting back to Paris and coming off the bench to score. If you thinks that's crazy Akale, the left winger - will now be on his way to Zimbabwe to play Gabon in a WC qualifier tomorrow. Crazy, crazy game.... Guy Roux wins yet another cup to his list of trophies won, Auxerre get into Europe (again) - and France still has wait some 40 odd years for a lower league team to lift the cup since Le Havre beat Sochaux in a replay in 1959.
benjani might become a great one. i think he's only 19 years old, and it looks like auxerre's put a big "hands off" sign on him since i've seen no transfer rumors about him. what can you say about kalou's goal? to quote the immortal tony the tiger... it's gggrrrrrrEATT!!
Great game...it was closer than the announcers would admit...Sedan dominated the opening 20 minutes but then Auxerre opened the scoring...that's the way it goes sometimes in soccer. After that Auxerre played much better. Noro's goal was incredible. Auxerre's africans proved to be the difference. Great game...2-1 with the winning goal in extra time...I never saw the Sedan boar tho'
http://skysports.planetfootball.com...&title=English+duo+eye+Benjani&channel=France Looks like you spoke too soon my friend. It says he's 26 by the way.