A poor match. That’s what Nice and Toulouse offered us for the kickoff of their Ligue 1 season. The Nice team, despite being dominant, were caught off guard with a goal in the 90+1 minute (0-1). Enough to fuel some regrets…
For a first half of the opening day one might have hoped for a more appealing start to the match or at least something more exciting for a summer event on the Côte d’Azur. Unfortunately, it was a condensed version of everything we hate to see or criticize about two Ligue 1 teams in the worst clichés of the French championship. Aggressiveness galore, enough to make you lose interest in watching a football match, defenses more closed than oysters, highly inaccurate attacks, misses frustrating even for beginners, and comedic plays that could make even chubby amateurs blush with shame, like the very risky control of the Nice goalkeeper, who completely bungled after a dangerous pass from Abdulay Juma Bah.
The new Nice goalkeeper, Yehvann Diouf, missed his control, hindered by the bounce, and misses the ball which hits the post and rolls along the goal line, adding spice to the scare. Fortunately, there was no goal from this, as chance decided to follow the overall movement and miss like everyone else…
Not to be mean…
We don’t want to be mean by ignoring a few flashes (which didn’t even result in a single raindrop falling), like those penetrations by Clauss, Boudaoui, or Bouannani that always failed in the final action. A sterility we prefer to attribute to the customary early-season adjustment and the remnants of an overly intense physical preparation.
The second half couldn’t have been worse, and thankfully the players proved they could raise their level and make us forget that disjointed play concentrated in the area separating the two defenses.
The game evolved positively despite these small “breaks” and actions multiplied on both sides, with a slight advantage for the Aiglons. The Toulouse team increased the pace with an off-target shot (48’) by Charlie Cresswell. The Toulouse defender redirected a cross from the left by Yann Gboho with a diving header that went right of Diouf’s goal, who was quite relieved by this outcome.
It hurts after so much energy expended!
It’s Badredine Bouannani’s turn to respond in the 50th minute with a feint, but his shot misses by a few centimeters. The foot-tennis match continued with other misses, up until the 57th minute, which deserved a happy ending for the Aiglons, who witnessed a barrage of shots miraculously thwarted by the Toulouse defense.
Despite the fierce attitude displayed by Jérémy Boga and his teammates, the Aiglons were brought down mid-flight, as if robbed by fate, when, in the 90+1 minute, Djibril Sidibé fired a cannonball into Yehvann Diouf’s net, dashing the Nice team’s last hopes of victory.
An error, a small lapse of concentration, and the first three points of the season are lost for Nice. It’s not a big deal, of course, this is only the first, with the hope that it will be the last mistake of this kind. Because it really hurts to be hit with a sledgehammer in the last moments of a match, especially after expending so much energy for… nothing.
Post-match statements
Yehvann Diouf: “Disappointed because we managed to show a different face in the second half, which resembles us more. We put in more intensity and on the only chance we faced, we conceded that goal and lost the match. We lacked efficiency in both boxes. Of course, it hurts, we are disgusted. We wanted to show that we were capable of bouncing back. It didn’t happen as we wanted, even though there are some positives to take from this match. But in the end, what counts are the points. We’ll need to switch to the next match and do better.”
Franck Haise: “I was not satisfied at halftime. Even though we started decently, we lacked a lot afterward, in energy, runs, technical quality. It was necessary to shake things up at halftime. There was a reaction, better things. We still had trouble creating real chances, even during the period when we rather dominated. We managed to lose this match, which deserved a point but not much more. The technical mistakes, I regret, but I can sometimes understand. But that there is so little movement, chances, runs, play, availability… no. We must be able to do more and better.”
