“When Lyon play, Lyon play to win.” So spoke manager Jean-Luc Vasseur, a smile in one corner of his mouth, before last Sunday’s final of the women’s International Champions Cup. It may be unusual for a professional football club to play only two matches in their pre-season. But in this post-World Cup summer, Olympique Lyonnais defined their pre-season as the obtention of a new trophy.

One week before the kick-off of their league campaign, during which their first two fixtures will pit them against promoted sides Marseille and Reims, les Fenottes traveled to an alien environment to face off against some of the world’s best. Part of the European contingent headed to the four-team ICC, Lyon came flanked by Manchester City, the holders of both English domestic cups; as well as three-times reigning Spanish champions Atletico Madrid, who replaced Paris-Saint-Germain in this year’s line-up.

But the four-time consecutive European champions had their crosshairs fixed on one club. “We came to rub shoulders with this extraordinary team that wins and is the holding North American title,” pointed Vasseur. That team was none other than the tournament hosts, the North Carolina Courage. Based in Cary, they are not only the holders of both domestic trophies but also count five past or present world champions in their ranks.

The Courage also claimed the trophy in the inaugural edition of the women’s ICC, last year in Miami. Their vanquished opponent in that final: Lyon. But as conceded by the team’s Liverpudlian manager, Paul Riley, “Last year Lyon were left thinking they were the better team, and in all fairness, they probably were.” For Heather O’Reilly, NC midfielder and world champion in 2015, “It seemed a little unfair to some supporters to say from that that we are the best, but in the US it’s the only metric we have, so we said yes we are.”

The ICC serves as a rare occasion to compare the level of football in North America and in Europe, two universes which very rarely crossover. The two schools of thought have constructed not only distinct styles of play between the two continents, but also differences in physical preparation and allocation of financial means. This encounter encourages therefore more than just comparison: it can provide a unique victory.

“I know those women are competitive,” warned O’Reilly. As if to illustrate, Ballon d’Or winner Ada Hegerberg did not hesitate when asked where her motivation comes from: “By winning”. “We have an American attitude when we say we want to win and be the best,” added Vasseur, playing to the audience, though entirely accurate.

Each side had a hurdle to hop over before everyone’s desired match-up. In their semi-final, Lyon took on Atletico Madrid in an atmosphere crushed by the heaviest of Southern humidity. The resulting slow tempo provided Courage coach Riley a chance to tease: “You wouldn’t see that in our league. You wouldn’t be allowed to do it, there would be too much pressure.” The deadlock was broken in the 91st minute, with a Wendie Renard special. “It’s not because I’m tall that I score,” emphasised the captain, “it’s because it was a well taken corner and I’m there at the right moment.”

In the NC Courage – Manchester City match, extreme weather and late drama were also at the centre of attention. With 15 minutes left, City were holding on to a 1-0 lead courtesy of Georgia Stanway, but an evening thunderstorm hit the players with an hour-plus interruption. “I’d still rather that than the heat,” laughed the 20-year-old goal-scorer. The break meant a turn in fortunes for her team, however, as the Courage doubled the pressure and turned the score around, their second goal coming in the dying seconds of added time. Two days of recovery and preparation were scheduled to follow.

Lyon’s trip to America was not just a chance to face challenging opposition. It was the discovery of another setting, another experience of football, or “soccer”. “We see they have super nice facilities, even in the universities,” observed Amel Majri, “I hope in France that can inspire us, and it’s great to play in these conditions.”

WakeMed Park, the complex built around the 10,000 seat Sahlen’s Stadium, houses the training facilities for the Courage and North Carolina FC, a second-tier men’s team. The pitches are of the highest quality, and it is surrounded by forest. It is an idyllic location for football at a professional level.

On the morning after the semi-final, OL’s substitutes had a chance to face the Tar Heels, from the University of North Carolina. A special occasion for former UNC player Lucy Bronze, though she was not involved. Had she warned her teammates about the level of college soccer in America? After quickly going two goals up, Lyon’s second-string but still international-studded line-up started to struggle to combat wth the Americans’ enthusiasm, to the point that the college team earned a draw from the 60-minute match.

A curious revelation over these first two days was the 4-1-4-1 employed by Vasseur. The front line of four was very much made up of attacking midfielders, and with the full-backs pushing up, Lyon often attacked with seven women at a time. “We have such an offensive potential that we can pull it off,” commented former OL midfielder Camille Abilly, now one of Vasseur’s assistants.

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Despite the buckets of talent, there was at times a lack of efficiency in the construction of attacks. For Hegerberg: “There’s still some work left to do to find those last passes. We try to be creative with each other, and it’s exciting to continue working on that.”

Disregarding the risk of being unbalanced and despite Riley’s promise to press them hard, les Lyonnaises fielded that same system against the Courage. In fact, it was the exactly same line-up as against Atletico, meaning that many Lyon substitutes enter the season with minimal match time under the belt.

On the other side, the Americans produced an extremely narrow 4-2-2-2, a staple of their highly vertical style. Viewers of the World Cup might have recognised Abby Dalhkemper, Samantha Mewis, and Crystal Dunn from the USA’s victorious starting XI (the latter returning to her natural position of right winger, as opposed to left-back where she played in France).

In the first half, Lyon unsurprisingly held most of the ball. “We lacked a little efficiency again, we had more chances,” was Eugénie Le Sommer’s take-away, thinking back to the close-range effort from Nikita Parris, and Majri’s several shots, one of which hit the crossbar. There was no clear dominant side however, as the Courage surged forward several times and demonstrated the potential of their intensity.

In one instance, Renard found herself alone, chasing a wayward ball with a forward breathing down her neck. Her first touch, with the outside of the foot to turn 180 degrees and face play again, majestically wrong-footed the pressing striker and showed why the 29-year old ultimately won player of the tournament. “They didn’t really put us in difficulty in those situations,” she claimed.

The key to unlock the match came in the 57th minute from a sumptuous Dzsenifer Marozsán curving shot from outside of the box. The German number 10 benefitted from lackadaisical pressure to turn an innocuous pass from Bronze into the winning goal for Lyon’s first trophy of the season.

The final stages of the match also introduced goalkeeper Sarah Bouhaddi to American supporters’. On a goal kick, the fans behind her started counting the seconds out loud in unison, reaching fifteen. This resulted in a yellow card for the shot-stopper and induced some nervousness in every intervention she made after that, as the human-timer kept pressuring the referee.

At last, Lyon could lift a new trophy and deliver a rendition of Paul Pogba’s “On va tout casser, eh!” victory chant. “They celebrate every trophy like it’s the Champions’ League,” said Bronze of her teammates, “they’re very proud of every trophy.” “Only four to go!” smiled Marozsán, her eyes already set on the upcoming league match.

For the Courage, there was no shortage of positives either. “It was so cool coming out in front of 8,000 people and being able to showcase the quality of the women’s game,” Abby Dahlkemper. Her coach was also delighted despite the result: “We were better against them this year than we were last year, but Lyon was also better. That was World Cup final type quality.” The disappointment quickly evaporated and many players looked forward to next year’s edition, expected to include eight teams.

The final word belonged to Vasseur. “Tonight, we are the best,” he declared, before agreeing with Hegerberg: “But we have to always question our way of being and push ourselves for tomorrow.”

P-P.B.

With so many players and clubs doing media each day, it can be hard to keep on top of a lot of the stories coming out.Rugby is filled with them across all levels of the game and whilst most are covered through some form of media, there are others that might have slipped off the radar as the Sevens success and Bledisloe build dominates discussions.One Percenters returns for the Rugby Championship as it looks at everything you might have missed from the week of Rugby.Banks bringing the HeatJapanese club Honda Heat have confirmed the signing of Wallabies fullback Tom Banks.Banks, who announced he was leaving Australian Rugby in June, joins former Crusader and Argentina hero Pablo Matera at the division two club.“I am really excited to be joining such a good club,” Banks said in a statement.“Mie Honda HEAT play a really exciting brand of rugby which I’m really looking forward to being a part of.“I am looking forward to meeting all the fans, players and staffs and will do my best to add my value to help the club to be promoted into Division One."Stats to stunWith Rugby Australia confirming a partnership with Sportable for the England series, there has never been a time where stats have been more rich and available to clubs, coaches and fans.As data continued to develop, take a look at some of the more interesting and unique stats heading into the fourth round of the Rugby Championship, courtesy of Opta.Australia is unbeaten in the last three opening Bledisloe Tests (two wins and a draw) that they have hosted.Despite this, New Zealand maintains an imposing record, winning 16 of their last 20 at an average winning margin of 24 points per game.Rieko Ioane haș relished the chance to play Australia throughout his career, directly involved in 13 tries in his 12 Tests.Pete Samu will be out to replicate his efforts as a finisher in a starting role, sitting top for most tackles per 80 minutes (18.4).South Africa have won 28 of their 32 Tests against Argentina (88%), including their last four in the row, only enjoying a better win rate over Italy (93%).Argentina have won three of their last five men’s Tests played on home soil and will be looking to log consecutive wins at home for the first time since June 2012For this to occur, breakdown remains key, with the Pumaswinning 25 turnovers in this year’s edition of The Rugby Championship, the most of any team in the competition, with 21 of those coming via jackals.Rennie hopeful of Tupou returnWallabies coach Dave Rennie remains optimistic Taniela Tupou will feature in the Bledisloe series after injuring his calf.Tupou wasn't named in the 23 for Thursday's Test in Melbourne after suffering the injury during a mid-game warm up in the Wallabies' defeat to South Africa.However, Rennie was confident he will be available for selection next week.“We think he’ll be right,” Rennie said.“We tested him on Sunday and he failed it then so he needed to be right to train this week.“He’ll be close next week, there’s no guarantees but he’ll be very close.”When debuts go wrongFirst impressions are everything at a new club, just ask new Bath hooker Niall Annett.Annett, who arrived from Worchester, was preparing to make an impact from the bench in the Premiership opener.However, he never got the chance to take the field, sensationally red-carded after his involvement in a brawl just before the half.The scuffle occurred after Bristol scored their third try, with former Red and Wallaby Luke Morahan touching down in the corner, causing Annett to be sent off without playing a minute.“Just want to apologise to everyone associated with Bath Rugby," he said via social media. "Not how I saw my first game going and deeply embarrassed and disappointed in myself. Players, staff, fans and everyone else associated, sorry for my actions.”Social post of the weekThe Australian Women's Sevens side lit up social media throughout the week after their Rugby Sevens World Cup success.From gifting Madagascar their alternative kits to celebrating with hotel workers, the team showcased everything that makes Rugby so special.But Sharni Williams' post after the final takes top spot, completing the infinity gauntlet of Sevens silverware with her World Cup medal.Click Here: LONGCHAMP LE PLIAGE XTRA VANITY XS BLUE WOMEN

Nathan Staples returns as host to join Mohammed Ali and Rich Allen dissect just the seven Ligue 1 matches from the weekend. AS Monaco’s continued troubles and Rennes’ point-perfect start are amongst the hot topics.

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Le Parisien report that Argentinian midfielder Leandro Paredes was on the verge of leaving this summer.

In talks with Real Betis in recent days, the 25-year-old was in talks over a possible loan or permanent deal there. But discussions have collapsed owing to too great a financial disparity in terms of negotiating positions.

At PSG, Paredes earns €600k a month, which is far too much for Betis to cover themselves, either on loan or permanently. As a result, talks have been abandoned, and the player’s entourage indicate that there are no other options currently on offer.

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Paredes does want to fight for a regular place in the PSG starting XI, but so far he has only seen four substitute appearances. He faced somewhat of a humiliation on the part of Thomas Tuchel on Friday night, when 17-year-old Adli Aouchiche was picked to start instead of Paredes away to Metz.

Amidst the Neymar saga and the usual southern drama at Monaco, Marseille and Nice, an important but increasingly unseemly row has been brewing over the subject of homophobia in football. An extremely pressing issue which needs to be dealt with, not only in France but across the football world, is threatening to be obscured in a haze of politics, semantics and poor attempts at humour.

The original intentions appeared entirely genuine. Ex-Olympic champion swimmer and Sports Minister Roxana Maracineanu, shocked by homophobic chants heard while attending PSG vs Marseille last season, began a campaign to encourage clubs to take more responsibility in tackling the scourge of homophobic abuse, proposing the imposition of sanctions. She was backed by her colleague, Minister for Equality Marlène Schiappa. The LFP attempted to rein the ministers in, saying that prevention was better than cure and that the focus should, instead, be on education and on dialogue with groups combatting homophobia.

As for the fans, many were unconvinced about the real reason behind any new initiatives, interpreting it as yet another abuse of football supporters. Increasingly stigmatised, banned from attending away matches, ultra groups targeted by the authorities, draconian fines applied for letting off flares. There has been a growing feeling in recent years that the powers that be are working against fans rather than with them, using the most minor of infringements to impose sanctions which fans see as curtailing their freedoms.

Any new initiatives clearly had to be dealt with carefully, with the tradition of chants from the terraces always treading a fine-line between what is and is not acceptable.

The first week of the Ligue 2 season saw the first action taken. Following the new UEFA rule stating that a match can be temporarily stopped in the case of abuse coming from the stands, referee Mehdi Mokhtari temporarily halted Nancy vs Le Mans in the face of chants from the home fans.

Here’s where the first unhelpful confusion set in. The chant which caused the stoppage was directed by Nancy fans at their biggest rivals: “Nous haïssons les Messins, ces PD, ces bons à rien.” / “We hate the Messins, those queers, those good for nothings”. Clearly homophobic in nature, it was not unreasonable, under the new regulations, for the match to be paused. However, in response, the Nancy fans began to direct their attention to the LFP, chanting “La Ligue, la Ligue, on t’encule”. This was widely and wrongly reported as the cause for the stoppage, setting in motion the events leading to today’s reign of confusion.

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Without wanting to get either too graphic or too semantic, much of the debate that has raged since this original incident seems to turn on the verb enculer and the noun enculé. The former a homosexual (but not only) act; the latter the recipient of the act.

The obvious inference in use of these words does suggest homophobic intent. However, both words are in relatively common French usage as general insults – the use of the verb effectively meaning “fuck off”.

Here’s where more grey area takes effect. The very large majority of fans, in using such language (and in using the second chant at Nancy) almost certainly didn’t have any homophobic intent. However, while both ministers tweeted in support of the stoppage of the Nancy match, the misreporting and the perceived victimisation riled fan groups into action.

Thus, the early weeks of the season have seen the issue handled increasingly clumsily by fans and authorities in the very public domain of the football stadium, for better or worse.

Week two saw Angers unfurl a banner vs Metz which, presumably attempting a joke, fell offensively wide of the mark. With female referee Stephanie Frappart officiating, the banner read “Arbitre enculée, est-ce homophobe pour une femme ?” / effectively “is it still homophobic if we call a female referee an enculée?”

A further stream of fan reactions – and consequent halting of matches – has followed.

At Nice vs Marseille, home fans joined in two chants, similar to those heard at Nancy, one directed at the Marseille fans and clearly homophobic; the other at the LFP and less so. Further banners were also unfurled, with a couple of attempts at wordplay: “LFP: des parcages pleins pour des stades plus gay” / “LFP: full stands for gayer stadia” and “Bienvenue au groupe Ineos: à Nice aussi on aime la pédale!” – “welcome to Ineos (who have just bought Nice and also own a cycling team): at Nice we also like pedalling/homosexuality.” While not as offensive (or unfunny) as at Angers, these banners at best straddled the line of good taste; at worst fell on the side of offence.

Last weekend saw further banners, this time focusing less on humour and more on the hypocrisy of the authorities, who are happy to fraternise with countries whose homophobia is enshrined in law. Lyon fans, at home to Bordeaux, asked “Roxana, will you talk about homophobia in Qatar in 2022?”, as well as “FIFA, Roxana, Schiappa, is homophobia only bad without petrodollars?”

Similarly, Nantes fans, welcoming Montpellier, declared “Preaching to us about supposed homophobia in the stands after going to promote French sport in Qatar? You really take us for assholes”.

For Marseille vs Saint-Etienne, meanwhile, home fans railed that “The LFP is using homophobia to sodomise our freedoms.”

Toulouse fans also sailed close to the wind with their banner “Toujours en L1 3 ans après – merci PD” – thanking their former coach Pascal Dupraz, who helped save them from relegation three years ago – and whose initials happen to also read as pédé (queer).

Perhaps as you’d expect from a low-key and likeable club such as Nimes, their protest banner was arguably the cleverest and least offensive, adapting the “La Ligue, la Ligue, on t’encule” chant to “La Ligue, la Ligue, on t’accule” / “LFP we’re backing you into a corner”.

As for the players themselves, few have commented publicly, but Nice’s Wylan Cyprien, asked for his opinion on the spot as Nice vs Marseille was temporarily halted, said “I’m against all discrimination, but surely we’re not going to stop every match every time an idiot does something”.

Irrespective of intent, surely the main question at the heart of this debate must always be whether homosexual people take offence. One can give an opinion as to whether a chant or banner is offensive, inoffensive, funny or not, but only the victim/target is best placed truly to judge. A parallel can be drawn with the “Yid” debate in England – although there is no doubt that most Tottenham fans use it with no malice at all, the fact that many Jews take offence to use of the word, particularly as it opens up opportunities for other clubs’ fans’ abuse of the word, should be reason enough for its banning.

Sadly, the most important voices are being drowned out and, much like VAR, an initiative that almost certainly was born with the best of intentions, is being undermined and ridiculed because of poor implementation, lack of dialogue and bad faith.

The hope is that once the hype of these first weeks of the season calms down, solutions can be found and a sensible approach taken according to what truly is or is not offensive, with appropriate action taken as necessary. Until then, the fear is that amidst the grandstanding from authorities and supporters, it will be those who were meant to be given a voice who will continue to be ignored.

J.S.

[Image: Ouest-France]

Ligue 1 side Toulouse have today announced the departure of manager Alain Casanova with immediate effect.

Les Violets are currently sitting 18th in the French top flight, but are just one point off bottom spot and have struggled to play aesthetically pleasing football since Alain Casanova returned to the club in June 2018.

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This represents Casanova’s second departure from the club as manager, having enjoyed a 7-year stint from 2008 to 2015 initially.

Speaking in his post-match press conference following a 1-0 victory over Lyon, PSG manager Thomas Tuchel was asked about Neymar’s contribution, with the Brazilian scoring the last minute winner.

“Neymar can do better! This is his second or third match in four months. He is not yet at 100% capacity. This is not his limit. He can do better, he will do better. He is going to rediscover his best level, with the matches and decisive goals like that, it is going to help him. That’s Ney, he is always decisive. I can confirm to you that he is 100% invested in the squad. He laughs, he is reliable in training, completely amongst his team-mates. His job is to score, to do decisive things.”

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Speaking in the pre-match press conference yesterday ahead of Sunday’s monster clash between Lyon vs Marseille, OM attacking midfielder Dimitri Payet discussed the fact that he will be facing former manager Rudi Garcia on the OL bench for the first time since the latter left Marseille this summer.

“It will be weird to see him in the opposition camp. A few months ago, when we played against Lyon, he did a pre-match talk about the Lyon guys… it will be weird to see him on that club’s side a few months later. We are going to have to put that in the back of our minds to boost us, but we shouldn’t play on it too much.”

What he said in this pre-match talk?

I wouldn’t want him to talk about us like that…

How did things go with him?

Mixed. I don’t forget the European cup year. But it was difficult afterwards and our relationships deteriorated. What I won’t forget either, is that there were some quite spicy moments, communication had broken down, headaches. I have my own character too. We did not leave on good terms, it has to be said.

The difference between Rudi Garcia & André Villas-Boas?

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There are two different visions of football. The most obvious difference is that we have a coach today who speaks with his heart, who says things as they are, who speaks “French” and does not try to make light of subjects when the hard things need to be said. That is the difference with the former one.