Coupe de France: against Lorient, US Monnaie footballers are preparing to live “a childhood dream”

In the charming “Café du center”, place Jean-Baptiste Moreau, US Currency appears everywhere. Scarves, jerseys, banners. “And still, the pennants that I ordered are missing, they haven’t arrived yet,” smiles Catherine, whom everyone here calls “Cathy”. Her establishment, of which she is co-manager, is one of the city's historic partners. Obviously, she's all in. And inevitably, she will be in the stands, this Saturday, November 30, for the 8th round of the Coupe de France against Lorient. There was no way she was going to miss this.

“For these boys, it’s the match of their lives, of their careersshe assures, her eyes sparkling. This is to be marked with a blank cross on their calendar and it will be engraved in their minds for the rest of their lives. We're going to play Lorient! It's historic, it's extraordinary. There are no words. There are children from the town who play as a flag team and, honestly, would they have said to themselves, one day, that they were going against a Ligue 2 club in the Coupe de France? I don't think so. What's more, pushed by many supporters who have followed them for years? It's fabulous. May they enjoy playing and may the party be wonderful. For them. For everyone. It’s their day.”

Unprecedented enthusiasm in the town

Like “Cathy”, there will be around 3,000 to support the Modenese in the rural Georges-Boulogne stadium in Amboise. Ramos has just taken his place. “I have six”. And he's ready to speak up. “We have the firecrackers, we have the megaphone, we are hot potatoes! For a small club like Monnaie, it’s fabulous to be able to compete with a club like Lorient. It’s not available to everyone.” Especially since the US Currency comes from far away. Still in the second departmental division, five years agothe amateur club has climbed the ranks one after the other, offering itself five climbs in a row – if we except the blank year, during the health crisis -, to find itself, today, in Regional 1. And has, therefore, won the right to play an 8th round of the Coupe de France, he who had, until this tremendous epic, never gone beyond the 3rd round.

This extraordinary campaign creates unprecedented fervor in the town. There were already 200 of them who made the trip for the previous round, to Maine-et-Loire. And some Modenese, not very fond of football in the first place, are taking to the game, like Steve. “I believe that a third of the municipality will be present at the stadium. It's still monstrous. And when we limit the places, because there are too many people, it's That’s a good sign.”

A craze of which the players are well aware. For two weeks, it has been impossible to stay completely in their bubble. “Where I realize it's crazy is at workconfides Thomas Chartier, the vice-captain. When people who don't know much about football, who aren't really interested in it, ask me questions. For example, I have a colleague who told me that her son was coming and who asked me if I could take a photo with her son at the end of the match. Because the little ones will take us for professional players, when we are nothing and no one. It’s very funny.” Midfielder Eduardo Roriz Lima confirms. “I work in construction. And my colleagues, as soon as they knew we were going to play against Lorient, they took photos with me, hoping that a recruiter would spot me so they could sell them at a high price (laughs ). What's strange to me is to tell myself that I'm going against guys whose job is to be a footballer. We do this alongside our job. I don't think we realize it. really, in fact, what's happening to us.”

“All amateur footballers and all young players have had this scenario before going to sleep”

There is, indeed, a world of difference between Modenese and Lorient residents. Four divisions separate them. On paper. Because we must not forget that the Bretons come down from Ligue 1 and have kept a large part of their bones in the off-season. “We’re going to play against guys who faced Mbappé or Messi, when they were still at PSG, it’s crazy”says defender William Viera da Silva. “It's impossible not to think about this match, for some time now I've been counting the days. As someone who has been playing football since I was five years old, I would never have believed that, 20 years later, I was going to play against a Ligue 2. Now I just want it to happen.”

An enchanted parenthesis. A match like they will perhaps never play again, even if they obviously believe in their luck. “It’s a childhood dreamconfides Thomas Chartier. All amateur footballers and all young players have had this scenario before going to sleep. The scenario of our dream life. We all went to sleep thinking that one day we would play and score against a professional team.” And this is all the more true for certain players, like Théo Beauciel, the one who keeps the Modena cages in the Coupe de France. He will face the one he went to see, at the Vallée du Cher, when he was a child and Tours FC played in Ligue 2. A certain Benjamin Leroy, who passed through Touraine between 2010 and 2014. Today, he is in Lorient. “I'm lucky enough to be able to face the goalkeeper I've idolized since I was little. I managed to get these gloves, he gave them to me at the end of a match. And there, I found him. I gave him I sent him a message on Instagram to tell him that I was honored to play against him, that it was like a dream. He replied straight away to tell me that it was nice and that he was looking forward to it. find the region and we would have time to discuss a little, Saturday, both of them. His jersey, if I can have it, that would be incredible. But apparently, it's already reserved for me (laughs).

A match to experience on France Bleu Touraine

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Players still on the cloud. But on Saturday, we will have to try to put all that aside and quickly re-mobilize. Whatever the outcome of this meeting, Alexis Vioux, the coach, wants his players to experience the moment. And not that they are spectators. “I want them to enjoy it, because they deserve it. This match, this enthusiasm around us, it's just a simple reward for the work they've been doing for a while. I've been telling them that since I got here. When we behave well and do good things, good things happen to us and now, it's been a year and a half – and for some, much more than that. that -, that they behave correctly, and that they work GOOD.”

So much so that fans wouldn't be surprised to see David win against Goliath. After all, we are not close to an achievement. Many of them put a small coin in currency. “I can see a little 2-1”predicts Jérôme. Answer Saturday. The match between US Monnaie and Lorient begins at 1:30 p.m., at the Georges-Boulogne stadium in Amboise. It can be followed from 1 p.m., live and in full, on France Bleu Touraine, with Adrien Bossard and David Malle.

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