US Monnaie faces Ligue 2 team Lorient this Saturday, November 30, in the 8th round of the Coupe de France. The players, staff and volunteers want to enjoy the event and why not “dream”.
The essentials of the day: our exclusive selection
Every day, our editorial team reserves the best regional news for you. A selection just for you, to stay in touch with your regions.
France Télévisions uses your email address to send you the newsletter “The essentials of the day: our exclusive selection”. You can unsubscribe at any time via the link at the bottom of this newsletter. Our privacy policy
The US Mint is at the dawn of its greatest challenge. Face the Merlus de Lorient, winners of the Coupe de France in 2002 and currently 3rd in Ligue 2, professionals. Facing them therefore are amateurs, drivers, engineers, salespeople, workers in life who will be at the front of the stage this Saturday, November 30 in Amboise. This will be the case for Romain, the captain, and his teammates Christopher, Edouardo… All are amateur players from US Monnaie in Indre-et-Loire, a team that has moved up from the departmental level (3rd division) in a few years departmental) at the regional level (1st regional division). This Saturday, November 30, there will still be 4 divisions between US Monnaie and FC Lorient, in other words a mountain.
Despite the stakes, despite the rain which fell on the Pierre de Courbetin stadium that evening, the volunteers, the players and the members of the staff all had a smile and internally cherished the idea of an exploit. The French Football Cup, the opportunity to escape from your ordinary championship. By beating FC Fief (departmental division 2 team) in the previous round, the Monédiens knew in advance that they would play the Orange Merlus. They did not fail in dominating FC FIef, a club from Maine-et-Loire, 3 goals to 1.
For the coach, Alexis Vioux, the good performance of US Monnaie is not due to chance: Beyond having football players, we above all have good people:
Guys who are there and who work, who are friends and who respect each other
Alexis Vioux, coach of US Monnaie
Alexis Vioux coached youth teams in Saint-Cyr sur Loire two years ago. This thirty-year-old with a full Benoît Paire-style beard adds: “They have created a collective that gets along well and that’s what makes this team strong. They could need this solidarity to annoy FC Lorient “.
The journalists who paraded all week north of Tours did not frighten him, serene and particularly at ease in the exercise of the interview: “We take advantage, we are serious, we are diligent, we want to do well. Now we want to savor and enjoy it all week long.
We don’t prepare a match to lose so obviously we’re going to play with everything we can in the battle. And why not perform a feat in front of our 3,500 spectators.
Alexis Vioux, trainer of the US Monnaie
For someone who saw his career shattered following a double rupture of the cruciate right knee, the opportunity is too good to mark the history of local football and exudes clear determination: “We will try to manage as much as possible depth, the most important aspect Afterwards we already have ideas on how to play the transition game but it will take a little bit of madness to be able to create chances and why not score a goal or several” he says. the smile on the corner.
During Thursday evening’s session, not a sound was louder than the other except the coach’s voice. In the middle, with the blues, Edouardo rakes his area, he is number 6 who works in the building. Two hours earlier, he was on the roofs in Sorigny and ensuring the waterproofing of a new home. “We are working to get through, we can’t wait to get that adrenaline. And when we ask him, what are the chances of the US Monnaie against this professional team, winner of the 2002 Coupe de France. He answers without fear, tit for tat :
I’m leaving with confidence, it’s 50-50! We want to make the club and the volunteers who have been doing remarkable work proud since the start of the year. We are experiencing something exceptional, it is the match of a lifetime.
Edouardo Lima, US Monnaie midfielder
On the bench, Romain Leblois, a club figure who played at all levels with US Monnaie: from departmental 3 to regional 1. He watches the session after feeling discomfort in his thigh but he refuses the interview: “I’m not the only one, we are a team. You can go see other players in the squad.”he said with a smile and kindness. A few minutes left: at the forefront of the attack, Christopher Lancien still has his head held high, that of players who know how to read the game a tenth ahead of the others. Positioned in 9 and a half, he often has his back to the game and looks for his partners on the wings before throwing himself into the area. This engineer who works in Châtellerault in Vienne at Safran is taking advantage of the epic US Currency 2024, hoping that this will continue in 2025:
We like to play together, we like to get together. We can win if the scenario turns in our favor. The important thing is to follow the coach’s plan, to stay united and to put a little madness into it.”
The session ends in a few minutes. The volunteers who were meeting at the clubhouse are no longer there. They had arranged to meet again to talk about the organization of the match, around twenty around a table behind them, small cups, blue and yellow scarves. They too have their challenge: preparing and cooking homemade fries for the public, hundreds of kilos. To do this, they will get up at 2 a.m. to peel local potatoes. This is the first time that they have reached the 8th round of the Coupe de France, so there is no question of offering frozen food in the tray. On and off the pitch, US Monnaie is a club where the Coupe spirit resonates in capital letters.
