News Roundup as Another One Bites the Dust

By: Martha | August 14th, 2008

Before it all went wrong.

When it rains, it pours — not only will Cyril #1 miss the Nancy game (at least) with a calf problem, but Ben Saada, one of the brightest spots from the Le Havre match in his 20 minutes of play, is now also out with a twisted ankle. Both of them are undergoing tests this week (I think Rool’s is today) to discern the severity of their injuries, and learn how long they’ll be missing. Jesus H., what a nightmare — poor Antonetti must be wondering what’s next, particularly after Ben Saada’s eye-catching work against Le Havre.

Away from the pitch, Roger Ricort recently gave another interview about the present and future of the club, and that word “infrastructure” came up yet again. It’s fascinating to me how frank he is — on one hand, there’s the ambition to establish Nice as one of the top six clubs in France and make regular European appearances. On the other, though, he’s talking about relegation, and whether or not the club could survive in L2 without making changes, as well as frankly addressing the issue of how the club is viewed by the football establishment in France. (Is Hugo Lloris suddenly a better player, having spent a month with Lyon? Is that why he’s now getting a call to the senior NT? Doubtful.) In the interview, Ricort also further discusses the difficulty of bringing players to the club, specifically mentioning the ongoing Dindane saga (which now seems to involved Lille), and the fantasy of Mateja Kežman.

It’s a really interesting balance of brutal honesty and establishing a scapegoat — as we’ve talked about here before if things don’t work out (whatever those things are), there is always the “infrastructure” to blame, and the politicians and developer who are making it impossible to erect a big, shiny new ground yesterday. Ideally, you’d like the club to take greater responsibility for its weaknesses, but the reality of the situation is such that, at a certain point, things really are out of their hands.

And, in other news:

•Rémy’s been called into Erick Mombaerts’ inagural Bleuet side for the Slovakia match next Tuesday. (Cross everything he doesn’t get hurt.) There’s also a new interview with him here, in which he continues to display surprising maturity — either someone coaches him really well in how to deal with the press, or there’s a lot more to the kid than initially meets the eye.

•There’s a brand new interview with Antonetti up on the official site, in which he reveals the club are working on finishing (No!) — something he, presumably with a straight face, labels “long-term work” — and that Eric Mouloungui just got back into regular training, which I think means he’s ahead of schedule. He’s obviously got a long way to go in terms of match fitness, but every healthy body helps.

•Coulibaly and Apam are both into the knockout stage of the Olympics, and they’ll face one another on Saturday in the quarters. Somebody will be home soon.