Marseille hopes not to get Metz-merized…..

By: Magnusson | October 29th, 2007

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Sorry for the very -VERY- bad pun but I just couldn’t resist the temptation. Marseille will be opposed in the round of 16 of the Coupe de la Ligue to one of the only two teams that are having a worst time than us in the Ligue 1 right now, Metz (the other one being Lens but we beat them last sunday).

Metz is a team that has been dear to my heart in the last few seasons because they have been providing the senegalese youth teams with a lot of talent and have a Youth academy in Dakar (so does Monaco -Silva, Evra, Souleymane Camara among others are academy products, but somehow Metz uses its senegalese youngsters a lot more than Monaco ever did). But it can hardly be said that they are a threat to anyone in the Ligue 1. Long forgotten are th days last season where Metz was actually scaring the bejeezus out of any team in Ligue 1.

Today, they sold some of their key players and are left with a mix of youth and eexperience that hasn’t taken yet. Let’s wait another week fellas for that. Pleae let marseille win for the sake of me.
It’s not that I’m particularly worried about it but Marseille could so easily lose this game if luck escapes us once more like it did at the Bonnal on Saturday.

Eric Gerets gave his group of 20 players selected for tomorrow night’s bout at the Vélodrome and here they are:
Keepers - Mandanda, Hamel
Defenders - Zubar, Faty, Bonnart, Givet, Taiwo
Midfielders - Cana, M’Bami, Cheyrou, Valbuena, Zenden, Oruma, Nasri, Ziani
Strikers - Arrache, Cissé, Niang, Moussilou, Ayew

The players missing are of course Cédric Carrasso , Julien Rodriguez (who started running again friday morning), Fabrice Fiorèse, Vincent Gragnic, Krstic and Hassoune Camara.

I don’t know how important this compettion is to Eric Gerets but we should difinitly try to go as far as possible since the Cups may be the only way for us to qualify for a European compettion next year.

Category: Coupe de La Ligue

Tags: Anigo, Arrache, Ayew, Bonnart, Camara, Cana, Cheyrou, Cissé, Coupe de La Ligue, diouf, Faty, Fiorèse, gerets, Givet, Gragnic, Hamel, Krstic, Mandanda, MBami, Moussilou, Nasri, Niang, Oruma, Taiwo, Valbuena, Zenden., Ziani, Zubar

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Comments  

• Laurie |  October 29th, 2007 at 8:41 am

  
  
  

  I took the TGV out to Metz when I was in France last month for Metz-Lyon and fell in love with the Metz team. Very scrappy and high energy, if only they could score. They never gave up, even in a 5-1 game.

  I also loved the way the team is so integrated in the town, both physically (walking distance from the train station) and emotionally (kids stopping by the team store after school.)

  But of course I’ll be rooting for hapless Marseille.

  Question for you as a football fan living in France. In Metz, women in the stands were probably outnumbered 25-1. Is this usual in France? In the US, soccer is much more family-oriented. It’s not 50-50, but as a female fan I never feel like a zoo exhibit.

  Posted from United States

  

• Inara |  October 29th, 2007 at 9:02 pm

  
  
  

  Actually, I was wondering that too. I’ve noticed in a lot of the games that it’s mostly guys. Is football not as popular as a spectator sport in France among women?

  Metz are plucky and sometimes punch above their weight. It also doesn’t help that Marseille’s confidence is at an all time low.

  Pass along this message to Cisse for me: the ball goes in under the crossbar, not over. You are not Sebastien Chabal.

  Posted from United States

  

• Magnusson |  October 30th, 2007 at 8:33 am

  
  
  

  You have many reasons for this.
  Fist of all the games are all played at night, which make them pretty didfficult to attend for the mothers.
  Second of all if you go in Spain and in Portugal, the ratio is pretty much the same but football is much more part of a late entertainment night than it is here (we go to the stadium then to the restaurant then to the club etc…).
  Plus with the history of violence, women prefer going to the stadium when they know it won’t be packed and therefore safe.
  For example, if you go to the stadium on Cup games, when there’s a lot less people than the 40.000 or so season-ticket holders, you will see a lot more women. Same goes for clubs like paris where most games will now be played in the afternoons (since the supporter was killed by a cop last year). I personnally noticed that there were a lot more girls (still not mothers) and that for people our age, it has become a pretty popular pick-up place.
  For the rest of Europe to catch up like in the UK, we’ll need someone like Mrs Thatcher who hates the sport to clean it of all the violence, Ultra groups and factories. Then, and only then will the women come watch the games.

  Rugby is a more family oriented sport and the ratio is cklearly 60-40 in the last years and even 50-50 when Paris (le stade francais) is playing.

  Posted from France

  

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