Football: Nîmes Olympique, the precious ridiculous

Diallo et Nîmes sous tension : les Crocos ont perdu leurs nerfs, leur football et le match à Concarneau. MAXPPP

National/5th day. Friday, September 13, the Crocos lost in Concarneau (0-1) playing 11 against 9, and scoring an own goal. Unbelievable but true.

Concarneau 1 – Nîmes 0
Stade Guy-Piriou. Magnificent hybrid pitch. Mild weather. Half-time : 0-0.
Referee : Edgar Barenton. Spectators: approximately 2,000.

Goal for Concarneau: Sbaï (csc, 69th).

Bookings in Concarneau: Seydi (15th), Etuin (42nd), Bamba (45th+2), Injai (72nd, 84th), Rossi (coach, 88th).
Bookings in Nîmes: Marcel (26th), Diallo (45th+2), Diouf (75th), AliAbdallah (77th).
Sendings in Concarneau: Jannez (15th), Injai (84th, second yellow).

CONCARNEAU: Salles – R. Bamba, Jannez (cap), Seydi, Wahib – Sinquin – Soukouna, Etuin, Mouazan (Injaï 65th), Bourgault (Samoura 65th) – Kielt (Etcheverria 55th).

NÎMES : Simon – Iafrate (Sbaï 52nd), Diouf (Akkal 76th), Mendy (cap), Diallo (Beneddine 46th) – Doukansy, Picouleau (Osei 68th) – Marcel (El Hamri 76th), Mexico, Ali Abdallah – Abdeldjelil.

Molière was not Breton, he was Parisian. However, this Friday evening, the Nîmes replayed the precious ridiculous in Finistère, where they ended up losing everything after seeing themselves win, no doubt, at 11 against 10 for 70 minutes (first expulsion, 15th) and against 9 heroic Concarnois during the last ten, 6+4 of added time (second expulsion, 84th). Precious and ridiculous, these Crocos.

“We hit like U13s”

Precious because they have the ball, but they don't fight to get it back and put it in the back of the net. Precious because this time, they have no excuse: the pitch was magnificent. Ridiculous because “they hit like U13s” and the local goalkeeper, Salles, didn't even have to “dirty his shorts”.

This is not Midi Librewho says it, it's their coach, Adil Hermach. You can take his word for it. Ridiculous because they found a way to score an own goal with a numerical advantage (poor Sbaï, who was alone in his six-yard box on a cross from Bamba, 0-1, 69th).

A non-match, a non-game, a non-result

His coach, too, got it all wrong: the goal for the Breton victory came from a lost ball by Osei, his first, even though he had come on 50 seconds earlier; while Sbaï had appeared a quarter of an hour earlier. In general, you make substitutions to win a match, not to lose it… Well, on the CSC, all the same, the central hinge was also missing…

This time, we had the full package: a non-match, a non-game, and a non-result. Oh, we forgot another ridiculous thing: no decisive save from the Concarneau goalkeeper, as we said, but also a 2-0 lead for ten Finistériens, Samoura's shot ending wide and in a corner (72nd).

At the speed of bulldozers…

We quickly saw that the Gardois were not very spirited or inspired. Even if their coach had brought back into play Diouf, Diallo and Doukansy, the 3Ds and the trident of last season. But the spring maintenance frameworks are no longer at the level this summer. And offensively, the Nîmes played at the speed of the two bulldozers parked along the touchline of a stadium still under construction, which was not approved for Ligue 2 and we understand why.

The Crocodiles, for their part, probably don't understand what's happening to them. The great Molière is practically dead on stage. It's up to the little NO players to be reborn on a football field.

Adil Hermach's reaction: “A defeat that calls many things into question”

“It's incredible. It's like that, it's incomprehensible, but it's football, what do you want me to tell you… You can imagine the disappointment. It's a nightmare scenario. This defeat will leave its mark. Good or bad, whether it will make us react, I don't know. But it will call many things into question.

Today, we doubt, we are hurt. Some must do more. Tonight (Friday), we must blame Nîmes Olympique, we must apologize to our supporters.”

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