French League Cup

Contention for the semifinals…

Eight first league teams are fighting for the semifinals of the League Cup… Lyon are favourites against Le Mans and for the winning of the Cup. After a good game in the championship, Nancy are favourites against weak Lens. Valenciennes are hoping for a good result at Parc des Princes, and weak form of Marseille goes in favour of Auxerre.

Quarterfinals of French Ligue Cup

After the break of almost three moths, by the middle of this week quarterfinal games are played. All eight teams that will play for the qualification for the semifinals play in the first league. In the opening game played on Tuesday, leader of the championship, Lyon are guests Le Mans. At Parc Des Princes, PSG are hosting Valenciennes, and Lens that are in a major crisis in Ligue 1 are playing against Nancy at their Stade Felix Bollaert. Final match of the quarter finals will be played between Auxerre and Marseille.

Lyon are the favourites, Nancy and Valenciennes waiting for their chance

Lyon, last year’s finalist and the best team in France are absolute favourites in the match against Le Mans, although Alain Perrin will field a combined line-up in Ligue Cup. Last weekend Le Mans lost points against Sochaux, and since they are not doing so well in the Cup (they drew1:1 away against Selongey, team form the fifth league), the question is whether the players of Rudi Garcia will have the motivation to try against excellent Lyon.
Lens seem as if they can\'t find their place in the championship, they are 18th at the moment, and playing in the Cup can only make the surviving more difficult. Nancy are the second team, and they will fight for the place that could lead them to the Champions League next year. Current form implies an easy triumph against weak Lens.
PSG are stable in the middle of the standings, have the mini series of three consecutive triumph, so they are slightly favoured than the good Valenciennes. Valenciennes are the most pleasant surprise this season in French championship- they are 4th at the moment and players of manager Kombouare will try to win the trophy in this competition. Marseille play with lots of oscillations this season. They struggled in the last round of the cup against Metz at home, and since Auxerre are good in front of their fans, they could easily suffer a defeat in this away game. Auxerre are great in Ligue Cup (they demolished Nice 6:2 in the previous round) and since they already managed to win the team from Velodrom, the fans believe that they could repeat the good play again and qualify for the semifinals.