#Paris #FCSochaux #morfals #kombat
This Tuesday, Paris FC and Sochaux launch the play-offs for access to Ligue 1, in a Charléty stadium ready to take out their gala clothes, kept in a cupboard since May 2019 and defeat by penalties against Lens. Plagued by injuries throughout the season, the Parisians nonetheless believe in their star, as do the plucky Sochaux team, led by Omar Daf. In sight: Auxerre, since Friday.
Ligue 2 – Play-off 1
The legend of the messenger Pheidippides who went from Marathon to Athens on his own legs to announce the victory of the Athenian hoplites against the Persians in 490 BC has passed through the centuries. He even inspired a discipline of the Olympic Games, which the formations of the upper part of Ligue 2 basketball must practice since the 2017-2018 season. The play-off marathon, an added difficulty for organisms on the verge of breaking, where the heart must supplant the ten-ton legs. Four games for the best, and as many finals before glimpsing the holy grail of climbing. In this little game, Paris FC and Sochaux, who face each other in the 13Y capital district this Tuesday night, open the ball, and hope to extend their season according to the first heat.
fluctuation NEC mergitur
In Paris, we have long believed in direct climbing. Still screwed in second place in February, Thierry Laurey’s men then lost points in Nancy (yes), Toulouse, Bastia, Guingamp, against Pau, Valenciennes or even Dijon. The reality of Ajaccian pragmatism has put its share of lead on the wing, and the Parisian infirmary has overflowed the gurney too many times to hope to see it through. Heavily dependent on Morgan Guilavogui’s form on the attacking front (11 goals, 4 assists), PFC had to deal with these shortcomings during their losing streak, between mid-March and mid-April (2 points out of 12 possible ). Added to this were the failures of Lamine Gueye, Lamine Diaby-Fadiga, Migouel Alfarela, Florent Hanin, Axel Bamba and the brave captain Cyril Mandouki for long months, hit hard in the hamstrings in September. As if that were not enough, Ousmane Kanté and Ousmane Camara will miss the duel against the Cubs, and Khalid Boutaïb (the club’s second shooter behind Guilavogui) has just lost the cruciate ligaments in his left knee. “lack of luck” Y “recurring injuries” for some, as Laurey explained to the Parisian Last March.
So where do you go to find the flame and the dreams? On Laurey’s side ball, experienced in uphill battles, Senegalese African and international champion Moustapha Name, elected Parisian of the year and after the season, with his progressive passes and direct free kicks. From the state often close to the grace of the totem Vincent Demarconnay (39), who rehabilitated the 1.80 meter goalkeepers, on the side game changer Julien López (brother of) or the right back Maxime Bernauer, on the wave and author of a decisive pawn against Grenoble, to maintain the advantage of the field. Finally, the energy of the Charléty stadium, following in the wake of the two ultra groups (Ultras Lutetia and Old Clan), and which expects to welcome 10,000 people, to get closer to the 15,000 souls present at the Cité universitaire during the Lens reception, still in the play-offs, in 2019.
Sochaux, it’s burning
Also in the Doubs, the effervescence is palpable. Last Saturday, against Dijon (2-2), by 30 years of the ultrasochalian movement, from the first canvas of Ultras Sochaux 1992 to the arrival of the North Tribune, passing through the Joyriders, Bonal seemed like a pressure cooker heating up his protégés, before accompanying them to the crucial mid-week meeting. After losing the boat last season (seventh, a safe distance from … Paris FC, fifth), this top division legend can finally defend his chances, back in L1 after eight years of purgatory. With a balanced balance between goals scored and conceded, the novelty lies in the points obtained: +17 in the space of an exercise.
“Our strength is the collective. » In October, already, Omar Daf was hammering it loud and clear. This group from Sochaux is the story of versatile elements, capable of putting on a show in Franche-Comté… but also outside their bases, with a calm and round back. Like in Nîmes (3-1) or Grenoble (3-1), but also in Auxerre at the beginning of March (2-3), where, despite the defeat, the first period had been very successful in the use of leather. . In addition, Sochaux have nothing to envy PFC in terms of X factors: the tireless Tony Mauricio (1.69 meters, but dominant in duels), captain Gaëtan Weissbeck, Aldo Kalulu, as well as Steve Ambri or the crackito Alan Virginia (19). Rarely has a previous dam been so unreadable and indecisive. Sochaux dominated the first duel without firing a shot (2-0), before being knocked down by the Parisian madness in the second leg (1-3). From there to there having as much suspense as in courtyard window ?
By Alexander Lazarus