With 17 points on the clock and only 2 victories in the championship, the Northern team is experiencing a difficult season which will inevitably lead it to the French third division. However, Valenciennes supporters will appreciate this Coupe de France semi-final which arrives like a ray of sunshine. Facing them, OL, who are reborn in this second part of the season under the orders of Pierre Sage. Winning at Groupama Stadium promises to be particularly difficult for VA players, but as history has already proven, second division clubs have already created enormous feats. A look back at five of them, that their supporters have never forgotten.
In a Coupe de France campaign unimaginable today, Le Havre became the first D2 team to win the trophy. In 1959, when the two teams failed to decide between themselves at the end of overtime, the match had to be replayed. In fact, the series of penalties were only introduced in 1970, and only after extra time of the second match.
This regulation causes unprecedented situations. Thus, to advance to the round of 16, HAC needs to play 3 times against FC Annecy to win. Lucky in their draw, the dragons qualified for the final against Sochaux, also a resident of the second division. For the first time, a team of such a rank will win the competition.
The finale is tense. The Sochaliens thought they would win 3-2 in the last minute of extra time but the referee had just whistled the end of the match a few seconds earlier. The final is therefore replayed. This time no quarter. Le Havre easily won 3-0 and won its first and only Coupe de France to date.
On April 8, 1989, Paris Saint-Germain hosted US Orléans, then in the soft underbelly of Group B of the second division. The Coupe de France is still played as a two-legged match. The Parisians host for the first of the two meetings. Leading the D1 from the 16th to the 23rd day, Paris Saint-Germain is in great shape, with players like Safet Suzic, Joël Bats and Jean-Marc Pilorget on the field.
However, nothing is going to go as planned. In a Parc des Princes filled with barely 10,000 spectators, the majority of whom were from Orléans, the visitors took a 1-0 lead at half-time. The minutes tick by and the Parisian reaction is slow to come. Finally Germain, Soyer and Lerat will each score their goal to win 4-0 in the capital.
The Hungarian coach of US Orléans, Karoly Kremer, will speak of a “victory of football over anti-football”. The visiting spectators will even allow themselves to sing “we are at home” at the magnitude of the result. The return match ended in a spectacular 3-3, allowing US Orléans to advance to the quarter-finals against AS Monaco.
Football fans cannot forget the double confrontation between Real Madrid and AS Monaco during the 2003-2004 season, where the Monegasque club reached the final of the competition. However, they may have forgotten another exploit a month earlier on the lawn of the Louis II stadium.
Still in the race for the title, and in a crazy European campaign, AS Monaco welcomes the Berrichonne de Châteauroux in the principality. Didier Deschamps rotates his squad, while keeping reliable elements on the pitch such as Ludovic Giuly or Édouard Cissé. Ironically, the only goal of the match will be scored by the Malian Djibril Sidibé, a player loaned by Monaco to Châteauroux.
Adebayor’s entry will not change anything. La Berrichonne wins and continues her journey until the final. At the Stade de France, the 11th in Ligue 2 will lose by the lowest score against PSG, 1-0, on a goal from Pauleta.
All Ligue 2 clubs were eliminated in 2008-2009. All ? No. A club from Armorique refuses to leave the Coupe de France to first division clubs. After Le Mans in the round of 16 and Toulouse in the semi-final, the Rouge et Noir of Guingamp meet Rennes in the final, for a Breton derby.
When Bocanegra opened the scoring for Rennes in the 69th minute, we said to ourselves that the epic had been beautiful and that the logic was finally respected. But the anonymous 13th in Ligue 2 will achieve the feat by turning the match around thanks to a double from Eduardo. The EAG then won its first national trophy.
Unusually, the 2014 edition will once again see the two Breton clubs face each other in the final. If the status of the EAG has changed since the Breton club has been promoted in the meantime, the winner remains the same. The small club of Côtes d’Armor disgusts its neighbor Rennes by winning 2-0.
In a season marked by the exit of numerous teams from Ligue 1 as soon as they entered the fray, OM was no exception. On the disastrous pitch of the Annecy Sports Park, Évian Thonon Gaillard thwarted the outgoing Ligue 1 champion. Neither Lucho, nor Gabi Heinze, nor André Ayew, nor Brandao will be able to reverse the score despite overall domination. Marseille.
The feat of the future Ligue 2 champions will have no continuation. They lost 1-0 against Racing Club de Strasbourg, then a resident of National.
