[Izulde]

vs LSG Les Brouzils (8th)
G: Victor Francoz
D: Clement Benhaddouche/Hugo Delmaire/Erwin Abdellaoui
DM: Nicolas
M: Julien Carment/Thomas Souvemanien/Aliou Traore/Luigi Bellanger
AM: Baptiste Ibrahim-Ouali
S: Sebastien Obei-Obengo

Same as last time - as many backups as possible for the league game shortly before the French Cup contest, even though that's looking even more unlikely than our last miracle win. One exception: Anthony Pellares is now 1.5* to Francoz 2* by my scout, and I think it's time we start making the switch to our upside keeper, starting with the next, allegedly unwinnable game.

24 - Souvemanien passes to Bellanger, but the ball's kicked away before it gets there. Traore is right there to short it back to Bellanger and our Italian-French scores with a tidy effort 1-0

28 - Benhaddouche plays it long to Pishvaie in the box. First touch cross to Bellanger, who sends a first touch cross right back to Pishvaie, and the keeper is horribly out of position for our former complainer's first ever RC Doue goal! 2-0

30 - Abdellaoui throws in to Bellanger and they trade passes until the latter's delivery to Traore. Pass to Pishvaie, and there's his second goal, as our onslaught continues. 3-0

47 - Benhaddouche throws in to Ibrahim-Ouali and gets it back. Long high ball turns into a fluke goal for his own first Roses score! 4-0

62 - Pure laziness and caught napping there. 4-1

Everyone with a 7.0 or better, and a barrel full of 8+ showings: Luigi Bellanger (9.1), b]Aliou Traore[/b] (8.7), PotM Sam Pishvaie (9.2), and Baptiste Ibrahim-Ouali (8.4)

vs Borgo FC (French Cup Eighth Round)
G: Victor Francoz
D: Erwin Abdellaoui/Nicolas/Guillaume Riboulet/Nicolas de Fuisseaux
M: Julien Carment/Khadime/Luidgi Hoareau/Luigi Bellanger
AM: Jean Friedmann
S: Mickael Bernardo

So I thought a lot about this, and decided to return to the 4-4-1-1 setup we used early in the year, which the game still lists as my favored formation, even though we've been mixing in the two different DM formations a lot. It's what we're most comfortable with, and it's the best fit for all our roles.

Why does this matter? Because Borgo FC is a CFA 2 team near the top of their division, and they're a semipro club to boot. This is also precipitated by the fact they run a flat 4-5-1 setup.

43 - We just couldn't clear out this corner kick. Damn. 0-1

Changing to the 3-5-1-1 DM for the second half, with Khadime dropping to DM and Souvemanien coming in as a CM.

58 - Pishvaie for Carment

70 - And here comes... 0-2

73 - ...the deluge 0-3

No shame in this loss - we weren't expected to compete, and we still pocket $12.85k as a bonus for getting this far. It's our first loss in 20 games - a stunning run that's better than anything any of my teams have accomplished, I think?

A fairy tale indeed, for a club like us from this small town to get to the 8th round of the French Cup. We now have just shy of $80k in cash - absolutely amazing.

@ Saint-Nazare AF (Coupe Atlantique Seizime de Finale)
G: Victor Francoz
D: Clement Benhaddouche/Nicolas/Guillaume Riboulet/Nicolas de Fuisseaux
M: Luigi Bellanger/Khadime/Aliou Traore/Luidgi Hoareau
AM: Jean Friedmann
S: Mickael Bernardo

Erwin Abdellaoui is out for this one due to yellow cards accumulation. These guys are five levels above us and the expectation is, we'll get clobbered, even though they're a mid-tier team at that level, and not like the squad we upset in the seventh round of the French Cup.

28 - Bad job by de Fuisseaux, bleh. 0-1

36 - Asymmetrical formation, as de Fuisseaux is ousted for Delmaire

53 - Friedmann lays off to Traore for the moonshot downfield to Bernardo. Our Portuguese-French striker has been meh today, but he dribbles, picks out his spot just outside the half-circle, and rifles in the long range bomb!!! Holy shit!!! 1-1

78 - Souvemanien goes in for tired Khadime and CM switch takes place

And we manage to force extra time!

107 - Danger move by putting Pishvaie in at ML and burning last sub. Bellanger is just too tired.

110 - Blown defense by Souvemanien on that one. 1-2

Hard loss to take. We played extremely well overall - just a couple dudes with lapses at the wrong time cost us.

Despite our two straight defeats against superior teams, I'm mentioned as a leading candidate for the US Changeenne post in CFA 2. Not at all interested. Unless it's Grasse, I'm staying with the Roses. And Grasse isn't open, so yeah.

Now we focus on league play the rest of the season - I'm going back to my original plan of Victor Francoz in the nets until we either are set, or Anthony Pallares is equal to him in the eyes of my staff.