Playing this 8th round of the Coupe de France against Beaumont-Saint-Cyr on Saturday with the hope of climbing for the first time in the club's history into the last 64 teams still competing in the competition, the players of SA Mérignac have been waiting for this moment for a long time. And they are just one step away from making their dream come true.
It is therefore certainly the event of the end of the year for the Mérignac club, with all the impatience and fervor that results from it. SAM coach Clément Tapy confirms: “There is a lot of excitement because it is an event that is a little out of the ordinary. This requires a lot of organization at club level and inevitably, there is a enthusiasm that we don't have on a daily basis, especially in the championship. It's very pleasant to experience and at the same time, we must be involved in this weekend's match. There is excitement, a little impatience and above all there is the desire to respond sportingly because it is a celebration for the club. »
On both counts
However, the Mérignac coach remains focused on the objective and knows that his protégés will have to ignore any external pressure: “For us, staff and players, it is only an 8th round of the Coupe de France with the objective of reaching the 32nd finals. »
To get there, SA Mérignac had an ideal run in the Coupe de France by successively eliminating Saint-Christophe 27 in the 3rd round (1-0), Saint-Médard (5-1) in the 4th, Sarlat-Marcillac (5- 1) in the 5th, Jeunesse Villenviense (2-0) in the 6th and finally, Petit Poucet, Saint-Philbert-Réorte (6-0) in the previous round.
The SAM team is therefore fully experiencing its epic while combining it perfectly with the Regional 1 championship since the club is currently ranked in 3rd place in Pool B with a match in hand. Coach Clément Tapy also congratulates his players on this aspect: “That’s the difficulty, to succeed in combining the two. The Coupe de France, there is a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of requests and then the following week, it drops a little with the championship where we are a little anonymous. We must therefore succeed in being efficient while having the lead in the Coupe de France. That's really the challenge, so far we're getting there pretty well and I think we're getting better and better. »
This Saturday evening, we will still have to succeed in doing so against Beaumont-Saint-Cyr, a team playing in Regional 2 and winner of Mérignac-Arlac in the previous round (1-0). And thus approach the meeting calmly by adding the ingredients that make it strong, as Clément Tapy declares: “It is precisely what we do on a daily basis that gets us there. We don't plan to change the recipe for this match since it can take us to the 32nd. We have a way of playing that we have implemented since the start of the season and which is better and better understood by the players. The challenge is to apply what we do well. » SA Mérignac therefore knows what remains to be done to realize its dream and open the doors to the 32nd finals.
The match
SA Mérignac (Regional 1) – Beaumont-Saint-Cyr (Regional 2), this Saturday at 6 p.m. at the Robert-Brettes stadium in Mérignac.
Florian Pourtuguez, in red, will be an offensive asset for SAM
S. G.
