Andrew's Blog from Paris (formerly London / Bordeaux / Sheffield)

There was to be no upset tonight at the Stade de France as the Girondins de Bordeaux emphatically dismissed their lower-league opponents to win their third Coupe de la Ligue. Goals from Géraldo Wendel, Marc Planus and Yoan Gouffran within the first 12 minutes completely killed the game as a contest before Yoann Gourcuff added a fourth goal just minutes before the half-time break to make the scoreline more emphatic.

Truth be told it could, and should, have been more. Bordeaux were simply too good for their lower-league opponents - who were competing in their first-ever cup final. With Bordeaux due to play Rennes in the postponed Ligue 1 contest on Wednesday night, manager Laurent Blanc rotated his squad, with reserve goalkeeper Mathieu Valverde starting between the posts, Franck Jurreti came back into the side as captain and was joined by Argentine Diego Placente and young midfielder Abdou Traoré. In the attack, Marouane Chamakh was partnered by Yoan Gouffran who maintains his place up front after having seized his opportunity last week against Lyon and excelling.

Before we all entered the Stade de France I said that the worst thing that could happen in this game was that Bordeaux scored an early goal. And sure enough, only 140 seconds were on the clock when Wendel latched onto a through-ball from Placente and lofted it over the goalkeeper with the ball creeping just inside the post. 1-0. It was the quickest goal scored in the competition’s history and caught everyone off-guard – even us supporters.

Just five minutes later and things got worse for Vannes OC. When their goalkeeper Christophe Revel came and failed to collect a Bordeaux corner from Wendel, defender Marc Planus could not have done anything else other than tuck the ball in the back of the net from a matter of yards. 2-0.

At this time all of us in the Bordeaux end were joking around that the match would finish 10-0 such was the gulf in class, so when Gourcuff whipped in a free-kick and Gouffran got in front of the keeper to glance the ball into the net less than 60 seconds later, this absurd thought looked like a shrewd judgement.

Thankfully however, it would not end 10-0, and Bordeaux only found the net once more – Gourcuff capping another outstanding display with a shot (albeit with a heavy deflection) beating the goalkeeper in his bottom corner just before the half-time interval.

At 4-0 at half-time the game was over. Vannes OC had exhausted themselves just trying to close down Bordeaux and extinguish their attacks. They had not managed a single shot on goal and never even looked like threatening. Unfortunately as a contest, David vs. Goliath would not even come close as an adequate description.

Full credit to Vannes OC in the second half however, as they emerged from the changing rooms as they pressured Bordeaux’s defence and even managed to create themselves two excellent chances. Both of which were rather tame efforts, but they were efforts nonetheless. They did manage to strike the crossbar from a freekick, but play was called back for an offside.

As Vannes OC seemed to grow and grow in confidence, the supporters in the stand opposite to us started to make themselves heard, and finally a sense of atmosphere arrived at the stadium.

The crowd had been subdued somewhat by the early goals, and the normally ever-vocal Ultramarines Bordeaux Supporters Club was deadly silent and sat motionless for the entirely first hour of play as they were staging a protest.

The so-called "grève d'ambiance de 60 minutes" was organised as a high-visibility response to ever-increasing ticket prices, the poor condition of most national stadiums and the new radical ‘indiscriminate and ‘disproportional’ security measures introduced by the French Football Authorities (LFP, FFF…) that would make many objects banned within the stadium and make the tribunes more ‘English’ as a result.

During the match the Ultramarines displayed two banners. The first, displayed during the ‘strike’, read ‘Des tribunes telles que vous les voudriez’ (the stands as you would like them). As the clocked ticked onto the hour mark, the banner was removed to reveal the second which read ‘Des tribunes telles que nous les vivons’ (the stands as we live them).

Within seconds the noise level in the stadium rose dramatically, and finally we got singing and cheering on our team. Flares were lighted and the atmosphere improved dramatically, which unfortunately could not be said of the match, which had been progressing at a snail’s pace since half-time.

Bordeaux could have made it 5-0 shortly after the hour, but Pierre Ducasse’s shot bought out an extremely good save from Revel in the Vannes goal. Two minutes later, an ambitious shot from distance by Gouffran, flashed just inches past the post. But there was to be no more goals.

Just like the last time I was at the Stade de France to watch Bordeaux all of the goals were scored in the opposite end to where I was, and also like last time, Bordeaux emerged with the victory and the trophy.

As a fitting tribute to the Vannes players, the Bordeaux team gave them a guard of honour and the fans gave them a standing ovation as they went up to collect their runners-up medals. It may have been the biggest scoreline in a French Cup Final but despite this the Brittany outfit - currently 10th in the second division - should be proud of their run in the competition. After all, they were only founded in 1998 and only turned professional this season. 4-0 was a fair reflection on the game, and also a fair reflection of the vast difference in quality and experience of the two teams.

Overall it was a very enjoyable evening but it was a shame that the game as a contest was ended so soon. Had Vannes opened the scoring then the match would have been far more exciting, but naturally I was delighted with the outcome.

Watch all the goals here [Video: YouTube]

Even from their team selection it was noticeable that Bordeaux was looking ahead to the match mid-week against Rennes. Because of Olympic Marseille’s 2-1 victory over Lille this evening, Bordeaux simply have to win on Wednesday to keep their Championship hopes alive. If they lose, they will be five points behind Marseille with only five games of the season remaining.

Before the final had even kicked off, Bordeaux manager signaled his intentions to cancel any victory celebration should they win the final and explaining they would be travelling back straight away and training the next day because the Rennes game was that important. Unfortunately however, best made plans don’t always succeed, as the supporters encouraged the victorious Bordeaux players around the pitch on a lap of honour after the final whistle.

I returned home late, tired and content and unfortunately due to my enthusiastic singing, without a voice. This could prove to be a problem especially as I have an important presentation to do on Monday morning…

Labels: Current Affairs, Sport

Posted by Andrew on Saturday, April 25, 2009 at 11:45 PM | Permalink