Newsie Odds n Ends

By: Martha | November 7th, 2008

[Football. So full of hidden laughs. Or: Old people FTW.]

First, the team for tomorrow:

Gardiens: Letizi, Ospina
Défenseurs: Apam, Cid, Diakité, Gace, Hognon, Jeunechamp, Kanté, Rool
Milieux: Echouafni, Faé, Hellebuyck
Attaquants: Bamogo, Ben Saada, Modeste, Mouloungui, Quansah
Absents: Coulibaly, Traoré, Rémy (blessés), Adu, Barul, Moreau, Moussilou, Ozokwo (choix de l’entraîneur)

Regarding the bad guys, they’re low in the table but have been getting good results lately, and are hard to beat at home. The good news for Nice, though, is that Lorient are in such injury hell that they’re down to their third-choice keeper for the match: Alban Joinel looks set to make his first Ligue 1 and Lorient appearance in the match. (What do you want to bet he plays a blinder?)

Away from the match, there has been a little news and a bunch of interviews in the last couple days:

•Lilian Laslandes has apparently turned his back on football and Qatar, and instead will join Bordeaux … and play for their handball team. Wow. Didn’t see that one coming.

•Mercato365 are reporting that everyone and his brother want Rémy. And by “everyone,” I mean Newcastle, Spurs, Arsenal (because he’s French, and therefore Arsenal has to come up in every rumor), Juve and Sevillia, not to mention the French clubs who are inevitably sniffing around. Whew. Assuming he can keep banging in goals now and then, at least when he goes there’ll be come competition, and therefore maybe a reasonable price.

•Mercato365 also talked to Apam, who’s got a lot of level-headed things about say about his future: He sees Nice as a place to develop further, but knows big French clubs (OM and Lyon, allegedly) are tracking him, and admits he wants to play in England some day. With all the bullshit badge kissing that goes on these days, there’s something refreshing about a kid who admits his future is up in the air, no matter how long his contract runs. That said, I hope to god Nice can keep him next summer.

•Cyril #1 talked to the official site about being awesome, as well as the team’s effective (for now) mix of very old and very young players. Refreshingly, he downplayed the significance of the olds folks as mentors, insisting the youngsters know what to do, at least on the pitch, without having extra dads around to explain things to them.

•The official site also talked to Eric Mouloungui about his recent success in front of goal, as well as his reputation for being “nonchalant,” a line of questioning he handled remarkable well — no defensiveness at all, at least through Google translate. He freely admits that he needs to work on his focus, and reports that Antonetti isn’t shy about giving him verbal shoves. Somehow, that’s not surprising.

I’ll post a stream if I can find one tomorrow, but don’t get your hopes up.