French Cup. 4th round. US Mortagne (D1) / SU Dives-Cabourg (N3)
Published on September 25, 2024
The 4the The Coupe de France tour is an opportunity for our editorial team to shine its spotlight on a club from Orne that will host a gala match on Saturday evening: US Mortagne. The club based in Mortagne-au-Perche in Orne, which recently fell into a Departmental 1 where it does not want to linger, has good reasons to be happy about the months to come, between the arrival of SU Dives-Cabourg (N3) this weekend for a great popular party and its total motivation to quickly return to regional level. Captain Robin Colasse, coach Valentin Cordier and vice-president Guillaume Lepan took the time to confide in a highly anticipated meeting.
The US Mortagne players dream of a feat against SU Dives-Cabourg (N3) but have set promotion to R3 as their priority objective this season. ©USM
On a football field perhaps more than anywhere else, it often happens that several stories intersect. Also, the duel of the 4e The round of the Coupe de France which will pit US Mortagne (D1) against SU Dives-Cabourg (N3) on Saturday evening is a bit like a crossroads where destinies intertwine.I experienced a fourth round of the Cup about twenty years ago, I don’t remember the exact date”says Guillaume Lepan, former player of the club with three ferns, in direct reference to the city’s coat of arms. “We were eliminated by Argences and from memory, we never got past that stage”. Today vice-president of the institution based in Mortagne-au-Perche, Guillaume Lepan was right. Since he hung up his boots, his long-time club has reached the glass ceiling of the fourth round two more times, but one after the other, it was Deauville and Mondeville who put an end to the Mortagnais adventure. What if history were to reverse in 2024? “We’re going to play Saturday’s match to the fullest, we all say that we have to go for it because at home, we always have the hope of winning something”says Robin Colasse, captain of the team who has the particularity of occupying the role of vice-president of the USM alongside Guillaume Lepan.
Openly very involved, son of a club president – his father Michel is at the head of the Saint-Symphorien-des-Bruyères club – Robin Colasse very quickly measured the scope that a Coupe de France meeting against a team of the standing of Dives-Cabourg could have. “I think there will be a lot of people, in terms of communication, we will put up posters everywhere in the city”he explains. “We know that there are clubs around us who will surely come since there are no other matches in the area so we should have quite a few people.”. The 25-year-old also quickly understood that the match could be an opportunity to highlight a club that has been trying to structure itself for several years, but which has not necessarily been successful recently. After having managed to break through to Regional 2 in 2019, the Orne club went down to Departmental 1 last season, a real anomaly given its ambitions.
Reunions and hopes
The Coupe de France therefore has all the makings of a small story compared to the big one which consists of bringing this club founded 91 years ago back to a level more in keeping with its stature. “The most important goal of the season is to move up to Regional 3”does not hide Valentin Cordier, recently promoted to coach of the flagship team after having led the reserve team. “We only lost one player from our first team so we have to do well in this D1 to get to R3. I think we had the level to stay there last season”. “We want to restore Mortagne’s reputation after this dark season, we haven’t been so low for over 10 years”adds Robin Colasse. What then of this Coupe de France which is invited even though the championship is only just beginning to tick away? “I was clear with the players, I wanted them to have the jerseys in the Coupe de France, so the objective was achieved. Now, given the draw, it’s really a plus”.
“We have the means to bounce back fairly quickly and the Coupe de France is a pleasure”Guillaume Lepan decides. “I hope we have a good match, a crowd, after the result, I don’t necessarily focus on that, but it can give a good dynamic to the club and the first team. And above all create a bond”. Speaking of links, Robin Colasse will have the pleasure of meeting a former teammate from his Alençon era in the person of Toussaint Omari. The two players also took the time to call each other after the draw. “He told me they were going to beat us up (laughs). But I told him we would also try to get something.”. It is certain that despite the gap of four divisions between the two teams, the Divais will have to remain on their guard. “I think we’ll have the desire, we’ll be irreproachable, we’ll fight like warriors”predicts Valentin Cordier, who firmly believes in his players. “We have a very young group, but we have two or three veterans who can help us”. And whatever the result, US Mortagne will look to the future with serenity. Between sporting ambitions in good shape and a brand new synthetic pitch about to be delivered, the club of co-presidents Cédric Barral and Ludovic Ghisalberti has great days ahead of it. Whether it passes the Divais obstacle or not.
> French Cup. 4e tour. US Mortagne (D1) / SU Dives-Cabourg (N3), Saturday September 28 at 7:15 p.m. at the Hippodrome Stadium in Mortagne-au-Perche.
, US Mortagne (D1) will above all face its destiny){kind=link}