Lille Slips One Past The Goalie: Strasbourg 0-1 Lille

By: Julien | March 23rd, 2008

Les Dogues kicked off the 30th week of the 07/08 Ligue 1 season yesterday. They played a weak Strasbourgeois side. RC Strasbourg has 4 losses and 1 victory in their last five matches vs. Lille’s 3-1-1 record. Before I get into the match I want to apologize for not posting in awhile. I have been having a very busy year in high school and during this past week I was pretty ill. Anyway back to the match… First I am glad to see Lille far away from the relegation zone. For several weeks we hovered near the bottom of the table, which is a risky place to be (Lens must be nervous right now heh :P). So it is good to be out of that spot. Match facts:
Saturday, March 22 - 20:00 H (French time)
STADE DE LA MEINAU
16400 spectators - 41 degrees fahrenheit

RC Strasbourg
6 CASSARD
3 DOS SANTOS
5 BELLAID
15 SZELESI
22 PAISLEY
6 RODRIGO (c)
19 LACOUR
9 GAMEIRO
11 MOULOUNGUI
17 FANCHONE
MULENGA (68′ )
26 SANTOS
JOHANSEN (57′ )

The Good Guys (LILLE!)
1 SYLVA
18 BERIA
19 FRANQUART
20 TAFFOREAU (c)
23 RAMI
26 LICHTSTEINER
DEBUCHY (90′ +1)
7 CABAYE
8 BASTOS
FAUVERGUE (63′ )
10 OBRANIAK
24 MAVUBA
27 MIRALLAS
YOULA (78′ )

Goals

85 ‘ MAVUBA (LOSC)

Cards
Yellow: Tafforeau 61′ (LOSC)
Red!: Rodrigo 56′ (RCS)

The recent France call-up, Rio Mavuba, scored the one goal of the match. It was done during a shorthanded Strasbourg side. Puel’s reaction:
“On a su aller chercher une victoire méritée même si Strasbourg a fait un très bon match. Nous avons fait une première mi-temps de grosse qualité et une deuxième mi-temps pleine d’abnégation récompensée par un but de Mavuba.”

Roughly translated:
“One had to go searching for a worthy victory even though Strasbourg had a very good match. We had a the first half with a lot of quality and a second half full of self-sacrifice rewarded by a goal from Mavuba.

Puel also stressed the importance of picking up three points from the match since it will help the club move up in the table. This is a main focus for the club after the midweek elimination from the Coupe de France by Bordeaux.