Therefore, one should not have been late to avoid missing the kickoff by the association Sian d’Aqui, SOS Racisme, and Julien Lepers, who asked no questions to the champions. The “Don’t Touch My Football” campaign raised awareness about the issue of stadium violence as the 22 players entered the field of a well-filled Ray stadium.
One should not have been late to see Vahirua, well assisted by Rool, open the scoring with a magnificent outer volley in the first minute of the game, on which Landreau could do absolutely nothing. 1-0 after just one minute of play, the Nice spectators could not have asked for more and commenced a game of attack-defense where the Parisians, playing as the attackers, were quite disorganized. Only Luyindula hit the post of the goals guarded by an impeccable Lloris and a light rainfall of warnings dropped towards the end of the first half on Rool, Armand, and Balmont. Both teams went back to the locker room with this score fiercely defended by the eaglets at 45 minutes from a great relief.
The only excusable delay due to the endless queue at the snack bar for the pan bagna (and the opening of a second snack bar in the stands, isn’t that luxury?) was at the beginning of the second half, which saw the Nice players develop an enjoyable but still ineffective gameplay on the scoreboard. Vahirua left the field to ovations from the public chanting his name and gave way to the Brazilian Ederson. The stadium even thought for a moment about a second goal by Koné, but his successful attempt was rightly invalidated for an offside position. Everyone watched their watches or the electronic scoreboard which still showed 20 minutes to hold on. The match intensified, and the actions followed but did not much resemble each other.
After the warnings rained down, it was gifts pouring on the green rectangle of Nice, and Varrault offered a fantastic chance to Pauleta to equalize after a risky clearance in the axis inside his own box and incredibly… but truly, the Portuguese did not frame his shot less than 10 meters from the goals of the ever-vigilant Lloris. Now the chances were raining down, but none would find success in the fortresses guarded by two of the best goalkeepers of Ligue 1.
Just two minutes left and the entire stadium will take a breath. Ederson enters the Parisian box, is fouled by Traoré and earns a penalty shot by the valiant Koné. The little red and black imp rushes forward, strikes but Landreau reminds everyone who is one of the national experts in penalty stopping. Four minutes of added time and the Parisians throw all their might into the battle of Nice. A beautiful save by the Nice goalkeeper on a free kick by Gallardo and Mr. Bré blows his whistle one last time, sealing the three points of a long-awaited victory.
Still 17th but now with a more comfortable lead of 5 points over Troyes who drew at home against Rennes (2-2), the men of Antonetti have won yet another final before playing two others in a few days in the North against Lens who lost at Lyon (3-0) then hosting Le Mans for the last act of the 2006-2007 Ligue 1 season.
Really, one should not have been too late tonight at the Ray Stadium!
THE MATCH RECAP
Ray Stadium: OGC Nice – Paris SG: 1-0 (halftime 1-0)
12,271 spectators
Goal for Nice: Vahirua (1′)
Yellow Cards: Rool, Laslandes, Balmont for Nice; Armand for Paris
Nice: Lloris – Fanni, Abardonado (c), Apam, Varrault – Echouafni, Balmont, Rool (Diakité, 67th) – Vahirua (Ederson, 54th) – Koné, Laslandes (Bellion, 91st)
Paris SG: Landreau – Mendy (Yepes, 84th), Rozenhal, Traoré, Armand – Clément, Cissé (c; Gallardo, 59th), Rothen – Diané (Rodriguez, 72nd), Pauleta, Luyindula
