Standing, the audience at the Dominique-Duvauchelle stadium in Créteil applauds the Lusitanos Saint-Maur players. Helder Esteves’ team came out of the Coupe de France with a great performance against Lille. But Bruno Genesio’s players, who did not waste this last match of the year, snatched the decision ten minutes from the end of regulation time (0-1).
It’s been a long time since the Duvauchelle stadium in Créteil had such an atmosphere for a football match. The spectators (7,000 including 650 from Lille, gauge determined by the club) pushed the Lusitanos Saint-Maur throughout the match. On a pitch which still bore the scars of the Racing 92 – Exeter match (31-31) last Sunday in the Rugby Challenge Cup, the 2nd in Group C of National 2 (4th division) upset Lille, 4th in Ligue 1, for a long time.
The match increased in intensity in the 2nd period. If Haraldsson’s curled shot into the top corner is magnificent, the referee refuses the goal for a foul by Olivier Giroud on Pereira at the start of the action (52nd). Erwan Regulus is then decisive on Ethan Mbappé’s shot before being saved by his bar on the restart in the wake of Haraldsson (66th).
But the Lusitanos played every shot to the fullest, on counterattacks, like this 20m shot from Aymeric Kissy diverted for a corner by Bodart (67th).
Despite their resistance, the Lusitanos eventually gave in. Well offset by Haraldsson, Marius Broholm, Norwegian international hopeful who had just replaced Ethan Mbappé, whistled by part of the stadium, adjusts Regulus (0-1, 80th).
If the Lusitanos goalkeeper avoids the 0-2 in the wake of a strike from Sahraoui (81st), Bodart, the usual understudy in the LOSC goals, saves the equalizer on the recovery of Edwin Elodon (84th). The last free kick where Regulus went up into the area to lend a hand to his teammates did nothing. The Lusitanos believed in it but were eliminated
“What predominates is frustration”
“In the Coupe de France, you pass or you don’t pass. We did not pass, unfortunately, regrets Helder Esteves. What predominates is more frustration, but at the same time with a lot of humility. I’m still very proud of my players and what they offered. I think we could have proposed a little more, particularly on the transition phases. There was a bit of offensive rush, but that’s normal. They have a little bit of stress when executing, so some technical blunders, choices… It’s very complicated for them to manage the context, manage the speed of play and the quality of the opponent. I still see the opportunity to come back to the score and then why not afterwards, to do something about the penalties… So, for the moment, we are a little disappointed. »
“We faced a very brave team, I would first like to congratulate them,” underlines Bruno Genesio. She played her match, and bothered us a lot, especially defensively. It was a very difficult field to play on, obviously it levels out the values. But we managed to get out of this mess, thanks to the returnees who came in well and Marius who confirmed our domination in the 2nd half where we were much better, more aggressive, higher on the pitch. The goal we scored was valid. There was no foul from Olivier and I think there was also a penalty and certainly a red card before.”
