CdF: Lyon vs. Sochaux

By: Inara | March 17th, 2008

Tomorrow, Lyon will be hosting Sochaux in the quarterfinals of the Coupe de France (French Cup). If you’re scratching your head wondering just how many times these two teams have met up this season, the answer is four if you include tomorrow. Lyon previously played Sochaux in the Trophée des Champions (French Supercup) back in August and have faced them twice in the league. Edit: this is not exactly unusual. Lyon faced PSG four times last season as well.

Sochaux are the current holders of the French Cup, but the man who led them to that trophy is now hoping to achieve the same feat with Lyon. No doubt Alain Perrin will have some funny feelings as he comes up against his old team (who are no floundering without him), especially when he considers the fact that he got the Lyon job because of his success with Sochaux.

OL have notched three wins over Sochaux this year. Can they manage a fourth?

March 18, 2008
Stade de Gerland, Lyon
2 PM Eastern Time (21:00 CET, 20:00 GMT)

Match background:

The French Cup is the most popular of football Cups in France, and this year has seen much of the romance remain intact. Of the 16 teams participating in this round, half of them are lower division teams, some from Ligue 2 all the way down to the fifth division. Lyon vs. Sochaux is one of three matches featuring only top flight sides.

You would think that Lyon have the advantage. They are currently roosting on top of the table, have already beaten Sochaux three times this year, and have scored over twice as many goals as they have. Sochaux on the other hand haven’t been out of the relegation zone in weeks, have as a top goalscorer a guy named Mevlut Erding, and who really don’t need the distraction of a cup match in this crucial time.

Yet Lyon haven’t seen hide nor hair of that trophy since 1973. That’s right – 35 years. Despite dominating France for seven years, Lyon haven’t won either of the domestic cups. Forget the Champions League. Is it a curse? It must be. I can’t think of any other explanation. So while I’d like to think that Perrin might be the guy who breaks tradition and actually wins something other than Le Championnat, I’ve been burned too many times.

Let’s talk Sochaux. A while back, Jean-Claude Plessis, their president, threatened to bring their reserve side to this match due to some quarrel with the LFP. I’m not sure if it’s been resolved or not, and I’ll admit that I certainly won’t mind if Sochaux show up with a bunch of CFA kids. In fact, if I were Francis Gillot (the coach), I’d consider it because next weekend, they have a tough game away at Marseille.

As I’ve already mentioned, their leading scorer is Mevlut Erding, who has nine goals in the league. The next highest is Stephane Dalmat, with three. Defensively, Sochaux have also been rather weak as they’ve conceded a lot of soft goals. So it’s not that their defense sucks, it’s just that they’ve been unforgivably inattentive this season.

Lyon also need to be aware. They have a history – a long history – of struggling in these competitions regardless of the opponent. They did coast by Creteil 4-0, but that was a fourth division side and is considered the exception, not the norm. However, if Lyon were ever going to break a bad habit, this would be it. The French Cup is a MUST. The consecutive Champions League eliminations have really damaged Lyon’s credibility, as well as their exit from the League Cup to a weak Le Mans side, so if Lyon could achieve something they’ve never done before – a domestic double – it would go a long way in boosting confidence and pride.

It’s unacceptable that a club like Lyon can’t win a domestic cup once in seven years. Actually, it’s embarrassing, and the players think so too. Most of them have said that the cup double is a priority, and I imagine it’s for the fans as well. Not to sound like a spoiled brat or anything, but I’d like to celebrate something other than a title.

Lyon info:

Yesterday, there were some concerns about the fitness of Juninho, Sidney Govou, and Kader Keita. The first two sat out Saturday’s match against Monaco (muscle strain and Achilles injury, respectively). As for Keita, he picked up a knock to his ankle on Saturday and had to wait for a late fitness test. Both Govou and Keita have been cleared to play, but Juninho will miss this match, presumably to allow him to heal adequately before next weekend’s match against PSG.

Le groupe lyonnais: Coupet, Vercoutre – Reveillère, Clerc, Squillaci, Boumsong, Cris, Grosso – Källström, Toulalan, Bodmer, Crosas – Mounier, Govou, Delgado, Ben Arfa, Keita, Benzema..

Sebastien Squillaci, who also missed the Monaco game due to a stomach bug, is back in the lineup. I’m surprised to see Cris on the list because his wife just gave birth today (a baby girl named Manuela), so I thought he’d with his family. Oh well. Fred isn’t on the list, but this time it’s not for any disciplinary reasons, at least that I’m aware of. He was left “at rest.” Edit: Fred is actually suspended due to yellow accumulation. So it is a disciplinary reason.

And only one youth player will be on the bench – Anthony Mounier. Despite missing Juninho, Perrin opted to keep out Romain Beynie.

Expected lineup:

Traditionally, these sort of cup competitions is when coaches give their bench players a chance to shine. Certainly that’s what Gerard Houllier would have done, who played mostly bench players in every cup game save for the League Cup final last year. However, Perrin is a far more paranoid man than Houllier and will probably utilize a lineup worthy of the Champions League. He did so against Creteil, and Sochaux are a far better team that Creteil.

Alain Perrin has stated that Jean-Alain Boumsong will be given his first start. Not that we have a choice – with both Juninho and Toulalan out, Lyon are short of midfielders and so can’t spare Mathieu Bodmer for defensive duties.

Coupet
Reveillere – Squillaci – Boumsong – Grosso
Crosas – Toulalan – Kallstrom
Govou – Benzema – Ben Arfa

If Perrin were a normal coach, he’d be playing Remy Vercoutre, who hasn’t played since December. Vercoutre, as the #2 goalkeeper, normally gets to play in cup matches, but given that Perrin wants to win this game at all costs, he’s not going to care about tradition (to be honest, I don’t really blame him).

All three CBs deserve to play tomorrow, so it’ll be interesting to see what combination Perrin comes up with. We know that all three can play together. Jean-Alain Boumsong needs playing time, but Sebastien Squillaci missed the last game against Monaco while Cris basically missed an entire season. It’s a no brainer about Fabio Grosso and Anthony Reveillere.

In midfield, Juninho’s absence should hopefully be compensated. I think Mathieu Bodmer may start the match on the bench because he’s been playing a lot recently, and there is PSG to consider next weekend. But he’s in the middle of a really good run of form…so I don’t know. I think Kim Kallstrom will start though. But if one of them don’t (which I think likely – Perrin may preserve one of the two), Marc Crosas should get to start. Since Jeremy Toulalan was taken off early on Saturday, it’s obvious that Perrin plans to play him tomorrow and next Sunday.

No Fred means that Karim Benzema is the only striker available, but he’s back in his favorite position in the center. Hatem Ben Arfa hasn’t started in a while and should get his chance while Sidney Govou hasn’t played much in the past two weeks. It’s a shame though because I’d like to see Kader Keita play again.

Viewing options:

No one really watches French cup competitions outside of France, so I don’t know if streams will be available. About an hour before the match, check for streams here or here. If you don’t find anything that works, you can follow live match commentary – my favorite is football365.fr.

I will be gone all day tomorrow, so I won’t be able to post streams or even comment. If any of you have good links, please share.