On penalties, US Thionville-Lusitanos was eliminated against Valenciennes FC in the 32nd final of the Coupe de France. Julien François' men leave the competition on the verge of a historic qualification.
Closed windows, last-second equalizer, the party could have been total at the Guentrange stadium this Sunday.
The USTL took the match from the right end by obtaining the best opportunities. Unfortunately, it was Vincent Hognon's players who opened the scoring on the first big chance of the game thanks to Makabi Lilepo, shortly before the quarter of an hour of play (0-1, 14th). Thionville's intentions are not enough, like that of Maxime Bourgeois with an off-target shot (32nd) since it is the VAFC which is the most dangerous. Without Alexis Zimmermann (27th, 33rd), who replaces an injured Théo Junker, or the crossbar (37th), the score would have been much heavier at the break.
Regrets for US Thionville-Lusitanos
The recovery will have been strong in sensation. Julien François' words and change bore fruit, for a time. If Groune sees his ball in the top corner being deflected by the Valenciennes goalkeeper (47th), the second will have been good for Thionville with Michael Omosanya, scorer as soon as he came into play (1-1, 48th). While everything seemed to be going in the direction of the locals who had the monopoly on offensive situations for a long time, Vincent Hognon's men were, once again, more effective. On a set piece, Rémy Boissier unfortunately allowed Lucas Woudenberg to score Valenciennes' second goal (1-2, 74th). While hope seemed lost, Thionville-Lusitanos made the difference at the very last second of seven minutes of added time, thanks to Jules Vitoux, who also came on (2-2, 90th+7).
The final decision will be made on penalties. US Thionville-Lusitanos narrowly missed marking a new page in its history after two failures in this one-night series.
The best moments of the match between US Thionville-Lusitanos and Valenciennes FC:
- 14th: despite a first save from Alexis Zimmermann, Makabi Lilepo opened the scoring with a surface fox (0-1).
- 27th: on a free kick, Makabi Lilepo is found but this time comes up against Zimmermann.
- 33rd: Maxime Bourgeois misses the target with his right foot from outside the penalty area.
- 34th: Zimmermann intervenes once again, this time in front of Mathias Oyewusi
- 37th: Jordan Poha takes Rémy Boissier's free kick but the ball hits the crossbar.
- 47th: Mathieu Michel releases Group's shot which was hitting the top corner
- 48th: the masterstroke of Julien François. Michael Omosanya comes into play, and from a corner, equalizes in the first minutes of the restart (1-1).
- 69th: Luvualu misses the second goal on a cross from Poinsignon which crosses the penalty area and finally deflects for a corner.
- 74th: on a free kick, Rémy Boissier finds Lucas Woudenberg who manages to get rid of his marking to score Valenciennes' second goal with his left foot (1-2).
- 81st: Zimmermann easily catches Makabi Lilepo's free kick.
- 90th + 6: Valenciennes misses the ko ball with an off-target shot from
- 90th+7: Jules Vitoux thrills Thionville by equalizing at the very last second (2-2).
All the news from FC Metz can be found in the Graoully Mag, every Monday and Thursday at 6:30 p.m.
