In the top spots of Ligue 1 OSC Lille have been eliminated from the title race after being defeated by a Lyon side which had to make amends for their Champions League embarrassment during the week against Nicosia, where they lost on penalties. Paris St. Germain (58) and Montpellier (57) are now engaged in a two horse race for the title as their lead is 10 and 11 points respectively. In fourth, St. Etienne are closing down on Lille with 46 points while Olympique Lyon have the European places within their sight. Read more →
Paris go top again
Paris St. Germain are top of Ligue 1 again after beating AC Ajaccio 4-1 at Parc des Princes Sunday night while Montpellier could only draw their match with Dijon 1-1. This round of play saw the big guns of French football suffering serious setbacks in the pursuit of the European places. Man of the hour for the Parisians was once more Guillaume Hoarau who has now scored four goals in the last three matches. The weekend round-up from Paris. Read more →
Superegos
The writing has been on the wall for a good few weeks for Andre Villas-Boas. Yet, he did not react to appease certain powers at Chelsea, namely player power. At least, this is how the papers saw it this morning. For the memory: Villas-Boas was the eigth manager at Stamford Bridge since Roman Abramovich has bought the club in 2003. He lasted only 256 days. Read more →
Allez les Bleues?!
Last night’s friendly between Germany and France saw the latter beating one of the best teams in the world and one German team considered to be one of the best ever, only behind the great team of the early 1970s that beat England 3-1 a Wembley in April 1972. What can be drawn from this result last night? France are a team to be reckoned with, even a semi-final is not beyond them if they keep this momentum of 18 games without defeat and if all players stay fit and healthy. Read more →
US Creteil Lusitanos – US Quevillaise
US Creteil – US Quevilly
Saturday night saw an entertaining match just on the outskirts of Paris where US Creteil met the team from Normandy, Queville for a Championat de Football National encounter. In an frustrtingly empty ground (350 paying spectators according to the club’s website) a fluid game of football developed which saw the home team edge out a slight advantage during the first half. A just reward followed after only 18 minutes when Dabo ran 30m with the ball towards the visitor’s goal, rounded the keeper and sloted home from 8m. It all looked good for Creteil after the goal but somehow tiredness was palpable and after 28 minutes Quevilly equalized from a corner. To be fair, at this point the draw was deserved for both teams. Read more →
Pearce and Beckham for England
Stuart ‘Psycho’ Pearce has been named caretaker manager of the England football team after Fabio Capello left earlier this month. While the speculations almost boiled over in the immediate aftermath, there has been time for all involved and the media as well as the football loving English public, to think and to reflect. Read more →
The struggle for second place: Red Star FC 93 – Paris FC
When comparing the size of London and Paris, there are many similarities. Both are mega cities with more than 8 million inhabitants. There are flamboyant shopping streets on both sides of the channel. The biggest disparity between the two however, is number of football clubs in the top divisions of French and English football. London has five clubs in the Premier League: Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham, Fulham and QPR while Paris St. Germain are the only club representing Paris in Ligue 1. Read more →
The Nearly Men
Didier Drogba, Michael Ballack…the list could be continued and will be in the future. But what these players have in common is a successful playing career with their club sides and defeat on the international stage. Sometimes bitter defeats, sometimes truly deserved. This piece will highlight both players’ highs and lows and near misses. Read more →
More than a defeat
The Barcelona of this season are not that of the two previous ones, that much is certain after they have lost at Osasuna last night. Their dominance over the last couple of years was suffocating to the point where the competition lost all its excitement. Only the Clasicos delivered some spark, only albeit for the wrong reasons. Barceolna’s away form saw them drawing five and losing two out of eleven games, while they are unbeaten at home. Read more →
Another Debacle for England
After the resignation of Fabio Capello as Manager of England it appears that the country has been plunged into a crisis. If one follows the live blog of the guardian, one is inclined to think to follow a live match or live debate but not the mere reactions to Capello’s decision to call it a day today. The cause of this was to strip John Terry of the captaincy of the England team and in doing so, the FA have decided against Capello. Read more →