France Soccer

Will I see you at Summers wearing the good ole blue cheering on France with me in this year’s Euro 2008? I got my jersey ready, do you?

Well this year at least we had an exciting finish.  The France soccer season has come to an end as Lyon has won the title yet again.  The club’s seventh title in a row came as the team defeated Auxerre 3-1.  Girondins Bordeaux could manage nothing more than a 1-1 draw at Racing Lens, but it was a moot point anyway.  Lyon will now face nearly relegated Paris Saint-Germain for the French Cup.

In more top of the Ligue excitement, Marseille earned a spot in the Champions qualifying tournament as AS Nancy Lorraine dropped another match and it managed to stay ahead of Strasbourg.  Neither team finished all that strong in France soccer play.

The final standings indicate that Lens, Strasbourg, and Metz will all be relegated to Ligue 2. Le Havre, Nantes, andGrenoble will be moving into Ligue 1.

It is looking more and more that this is Lyon’s year to take the French Ligue Championship.  In a hard fought game against AS Nancy, Lyon came out on top 1-0 as Brazil’s Andre Luiz netted the game winner.  Bordeaux refused to accept second place, as it remained two points down with a victory against Sochaux.  Marseille could not fully take advantage of the Nancy loss, as it only managed a draw with Le Mans, leaving it one point below Nancy for the Champions Cup qualifying tournament position.  While Nancy still controls its own fate, Marseille has an advantage facing lowly Strasbourg while Nancy must face the fiesty Rennes.

What makes the fight for first place all the more interesting is that both teams will face a team fighting to avoid relegation.  For Bordeaux it is Lens and Lyon gets Paris Saint-Germain.  PSG scored a huge draw against St. Etienne, while Toulouse and Lens both lost.  Currently it is Lens in the relegation position on goals, tied with Toulouse with points.

Here are the leaders in France’s Ligue action in goal scoring with two games to play:

1) 20 Karim Benzema of Lyon

2) 17 Mamadou Niang of Marseille

3) 14 Djibril Cisse of Marseille

Bafetimbi Gomis of St Etienne

Fernando Cavenaghi of Bordeaux

6) 12 Rafik Saïfi of Lorient

Steve Savidan of Valenciennes

Bakari Koné of Nice

Wendel of Bordeaux

Tulio De Melo of Le Mans

In stoppage time, Bordeaux pulled off a victory against Marseille, with a goal from Pierre  Ducasse.  This keeps the squads hopes for a France soccer Ligue championship alive.  For Marseille, though, it put them back into the UEFA position as AS Nancy was able to score a victory over Strasbourg.  Things get tougher for Nancy, however, with Lyon coming up next weekend.  They will feel more comfortable with the 2 point cushion, however.  Each of the teams fighting to stay out of the last relegation spot, Paris Saint-Germain, Lens, and Toulouse (from bottom up) earned a draw.  PSG saw its game against Toulouse as a real opportunity to vault over both them and Lens, but things managed to stay exactly where they were last week with 2 games to play in French soccer Ligue action.

Djibril Cisse’s late goal helped propel Marseille to a 3-2 victory over Monaco, keeping its chances for a Champions league place alive.  AS Nancy Lorraine, meanwhile, could only manage a draw with Valenciennes and fell into the UEFA Cup position for Ligue I in French soccer.  Meanwhile, Paris Saint-Germain got a much needed victory that drew it even in points, down in goals with both Lens and Toulousse.  Amara Diane netted two to help pace PSG.

Where do they play?

56% France; 25% England; 11% Italy; 6% Spain; 3% Germany

33%  Olympique Lyonnais

Goalies
Grégory Coupet – Olympique Lyonnais
Sébastien Frey – Paris SG
Mickaël Landreau – Paris SG

Defense
Eric Abidal – Olympique Lyonnais
Jean-Alain Boumsong – Olympique Lyonnais
François Clerc – Olympique Lyonnais
Julien Escudé – F.C. Seville
Patrice Evra – Manchester United
William Gallas – Arsenal FC
Gaël Givet – Olympique de Marseille
Philippe Mexes – AS Roma
Bacary Sagna – Reading
Willy Sagnol – Bayern Münich
Sébastien Squillaci – Olympique Lyonnais
Lilian Thuram – FC Barcelona

Midfield
Hatem Ben Arfa – Olympique Lyonnais
Abou Diaby – Arsenal
Alou Diarra – Olympique Lyonnais
Lassana Diarra – Portsmouth FC
Claude Makelele – Chelsea FC
Florent Malouda – Olympique Lyonnais
Rio Antonio Mavuba – Girondins de Bordeaux
Samir Nasri – Olympique de Marseille
Franck Ribéry – Olympique de Marseille
Jérôme Rothen – Paris SG
Jérémy Toulalan – Olympique Lyonnais
Patrick Vieira – Inter Milan

Forwards
Nicolas Anelka – Bolton Wanderers
Karim Benzema – Olympique Lyonnai
Djibril Cissé – Olympique de Marseille
Sidney Govou – Olympique Lyonnais
Thierry Henry – Arsenal F.C.
Frédéric Piquionne – AS Monaco
Louis Saha – Manchester United
David Trezeguet – Juventus
Sylvain Wiltord – Olympique Lyonnais

Lens put some distance between it and Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) this past weekend with a win over Sochaux, leaving it 3 points above relegation.  PSG sits tied with Strasbourg at 25 points. Marseille got knocked off its pedestal by losing 3 goals to 1 versus Lille, despite a 34-5 record against Lille’s soccer team at home.  AS Nancy Lorraine managed a tie to jump back into the 3rd place of Le Ligue.  Third place in the French first division gets you into the Champions League qualifying tournament, 4th puts you into the UEFA Cup.

Marseille continued its winning ways by defeating Metz 2-1 and holding onto third place in La Ligue I.  To hold onto the automatic Champions qualifier, Marseille must remain strong in its last three games, including one against 2nd place Bordeaux, who is chasing Lyon for first place after its 2-1 victory over Caen.  Paris Saint-Germain meanwhile could not hold onto a 2-1 lead with less than 15 minutes, giving up two unanswered to Nice to fall again 3-2.  PSG still has two games left against subpar opponents to try to pull itself out of relegation.

For the first time in over a decade, the Marseille Ligue team defeated perennial powerhouse Lydon in French professional soccer this past weekend.  The victory keeps Marseille in contention for an aut0matic Champions League entry and keeps it in the 4th position, which earns a place in the UEFA Cup.  Lyon is certain to win the league and is headed automatically into the Champions League with Bordeaux