While all eyes are on Germany and its World Cup, where the French team will face its Spanish counterpart for a place in the quarter-finals, the players and staff of OGC Nice have resumed training under the hot summer sun to soon better target the opposing nets.
The coming week will be studious with training sessions scheduled at relatively early hours (8:30 AM – 11 AM) in the Vaugrenier park, then later from 6 PM at the Charles Ehrmann Sports Park.
On the player side, Florian Boucansaud has just been transferred to Troyes on a 3-year contract, while Sammy Traore will be joining his teammates on the road next year at Paris Saint Germain. Next year, SC Bastia will count two former Nice players with the arrival of Dolci and Jarjat, while Valenciennes is betting on the talent of the now former Nice player, Sébastien Roudet, who has signed a three-year contract with the Valenciennes club.
At the finish line of the 2006-2007 season, the biggest transfer in the history of the gym is named Matt Moussilou. This 24-year-old striker, coming from Lille, scored 4 goals in 25 Ligue 1 matches last year, having scored twelve times in 34 matches in 2004-2005. Another newcomer is also arriving in the person of Ibrahim Touré, a young Ivorian striker who has just signed his first one-year pro contract with the red and black team. A Touré can even hide two others, since Ibrahim is the brother of Kolo Touré who plays at Arsenal and Yaya Touré who plays at Olympiakos.
To prepare for the first match of the season against Le Mans on August 5th, and the opener at Ray on August 12th against FC Nantes, a series of friendly matches have been scheduled. Antonetti’s men will start on July 7th in Ste Maxime against SC Toulon, then on July 11th in Hyères against FC Istres, on July 14th in Annemasse against Tottenham, on July 18th in St Jean de Maurienne against FC Sochaux, on July 21st in Aix les Bains against FC Grenoble, on July 22nd in Annecy against Celta Vigo, plus two more matches still to be determined on the 28th and 29th of July.
The eaglets will go for a preparation camp from July 12th to 22nd in Thonon-Les-Bains, and everyone hopes that the pure air of Haute Savoie will benefit a group that will have a lot to do to match its performances from last year with a nice eighth place in the league and that unfortunate League Cup final which still fuels the supporters’ talk.
