CdL: Le Mans vs. Lyon

By: Inara | January 15th, 2008

Probably the least exciting of the cup tournaments to take part it, today’s Coupe de la Ligue (League Cup) quarterfinal match against Le Mans is a game Lyon should win. Interestingly, Lyon played Le Mans in the CdL at this exact same stage last year, and it turned out to be the only bright spot in the month of January.

Edit: due to inclement weather, this match has been postponed. It had been rescheduled for tomorrow (Wednesday), January 16 at 9 AM Eastern Time (15:00 CET).

January 15, 2008
Stade Léon-Bollée, Le Mans
3 PM Eastern Time (21:00 in France)

Match Background:

Le Mans have been doing very well in Ligue 1 and look to be challenging for a spot in Europe next year. They have a young squad that’s filled with more than their fair share of talent. Besides Yohann Pele, they also possess Mathieu Coutadeur, Tulio De Melo, and Marko Basa as prospects. Unfortunately, due to the untimely collision of an injury crisis, suspensions, and the African Cup of Nations, Le Mans will be forced to field a depleted squad today.

Both Mamadou Samassa and Marko Baso are the notable injured while Gregory Cerdan is suspended. Furthermore, Ndri Romaric, Gervinho, Stephane Sessegnon, Ibrahima Camara, and Ben Frej are away on international duty. All of these are important players, so it leaves Le Mans coach Rudi Garcia with quite a selection headache.

To make matters worse, history is also against Le Mans. They have come up against Lyon only seven times in history, and all seven of those times, they lost. Of course, they came very close to reversing that trend back in August, when they came to the Gerland and were up by two goals with only 20 minutes to go. But Lyon then went on to score three goals in seven minutes…anyone surprised?

Their top striker, De Melo, has scored ten goals so far this season and has been linked with a move to Italy. Though he’s been distracted of late, he’ll probably wake up just in time to face Lyon, always a special occasion for smaller teams desperate to knock Lyon off their perch.

As for Lyon, the Coupe de la Ligue was the last cup competition they won - back in 2001. This victory eventually led to their period of dominance, which exists to this day. So many consider this a “good luck trophy.” Last year, Lyon were this close to winning it again, but having reached the finals, they conceded an injury time goal to Bordeaux and watched the cup slip out of their fingers. So you can be sure that Lyon won’t be making the same mistake twice.

Lyon info:

Both Francois Clerc and Juninho picked up slight knocks last week, so they may be rested for this match or may come off the bench, depending on how they feel. Gregory Coupet continues his rehabilitation with another match that will be testing his readiness. Sidney Govou is still out as well (and frighteningly, there has been no word on his progress). Lyon will also be missing Kader Keita, who is away with the Ivory Coast for the African Cup of Nations.

Coupet, Vercoutre - Clerc, Réveillère, C. Anderson, Squillaci, Paillot, Grosso - Bodmer - Källström, Toulalan - Crosas, Juninho, Ben Arfa, Mounier, Delgado - Benzéma, Baros, Fred, Rémy.

Yes, that is Fred you see listed. However, he probably won’t be playing. Additionally, both Cesar Delgado and Marc Crosas have made the bench, though it’s highly probable that neither of them will start. In fact, I think we’ll only be seeing Delgado making his debut today.

Expected lineup:

Lyon will be putting up their strongest lineup possible. Perrin has said that he will tolerate no screw ups because he expects Lyon to be playing in the final at the Stade de France come March.

Coupet
Reveillere - Squillaci - Anderson - Grosso
Bodmer - Toulalan - Kallstrom
Baros - Benzema - Ben Arfa

Assuming Juninho doesn’t start, Mathieu Bodmer will get a much needed start. And how can anyone doubt the places of Karim Benzema, Kim Kallstrom, Jeremy Toulalan, and Hatem Ben Arfa? As for Milan Baros, he looks promising every game, but he just needs to score a goal to get his confidence going. I think he will eventually be replaced by Delgado. And if the game is going really well, maybe we might even see Crosas. But that’s a big maybe.

Unfortunately, there isn’t much that can be done about the back four. If Clerc isn’t ready to play, Lyon have only two full backs available - Anthony Reveillere and Fabio Grosso - and though they both had atrocious games against Toulouse last weekend, there isn’t much we can do about them.

Viewing Options:

Hopefully, there will be more options than there was this past weekend. As always, check this site out for links. I will also do my best to post links before the game in the comments section of this thread.

Expected Result:

I’m thinking 2-1. I have this feeling that we’ll either concede a stupid penalty or fail to defend well on a corner - because Lyon are just like that. Still, we have a lot of offensive firepower at our disposal and should get in a few goals.