With or without ice cubes! Well, it will be with tonight at the Bonal stadium for the 32nd finals of the Coupe de France. The FCSM, 8th in Ligue 2, welcomes AS Saint-Etienne, 15th in Ligue 1. A beautiful poster unfortunately still behind closed doors, still without an audience. But to experience live and in full on your radio, well in the warmth while for the players, it will be on the contrary, the polar cold, Siberian even. We announce a mercury falling between minus 10 and minus 15 degrees. No time to put a footballer out. And yet, it will be necessary.
“We are going to use all possible heat creams” – Pape Abdou Paye, FCSM defender
In Sochaux, playing in such cold weather, for defender Pape Abdou Paye, is anything but a piece of fun “I’m cautious, honestly, I don’t know how I’m going to do it. We’re going to put on all the heat creams we can (laughs)”. The rear of the yellow and blue therefore expects difficult playing conditions “but we have no choice, we will make do with” to try to pass one more round after the beautiful qualification against Nancy (0-1).
Bonal’s lawn covered and heated
On a lawn that we hope will be preserved. She has been pampered since Wednesday with the first snowfall. Covered and heated, the land is the object of all the attentions of the gardeners of Bonal including their manager Stéphane Hugoniot of the company ID Verde, guest of 100% FCSM “We are doing everything we can to be able to play this Thursday. The tarpaulins are in place, the dome also with the four boilers below, the temperature will allow the snow to melt. Regarding the frost, we will leave the tarpaulins and the heating as long as possible, we will remove it in the morning and then prepare the ground. But it is the referee, Mr. Stinat, who will decide if it is playable around 4:45 pm, two hours before the match.
Sochaux in turn-over mode
In the meantime, the Sochaux team is preparing this duel against the Greens without any particular apprehension “To challenge the 15th in Ligue 1 is a good opportunity for my young players to come together at the top level. Ligue 2 and Monday’s match against Valenciennes remain our priority but we will try to field the best possible team to beat the Greens “ says Omar Daf. The FCSM coach will be deprived of several important players, including Alan Virginius, the hero of Chambly “affected with hamstrings” and still Weissbeck, Pogba, Martial still injured, while Diédhiou is still suspended and Prévot will be replaced by Jeannin for the Coupe de France.
Boudebouz in Bonal?
Saint-Etienne, 15th in Ligue 1, arrives in Bonal with a reworked team as well. Debuchy and Hamouma are particularly injured. In the rotation that Claude Puel, the Saint-Etienne coach, will necessarily operate, there is a small chance to see again Ryad Boudebouz push back the lawn which saw him hatch at the highest level with Sochaux. The Algerian international midfielder, who did not wish to leave Forez this winter despite an offer from a Turkish club, could indeed find playing time against his training club.
The meeting Sochaux-Saint Etienne, 32nd finals of the Coupe de France, can be experienced live and in full from 6 p.m. in 100% FCSM. Kick-off 6:45 pm with Hervé Blanchard at the microphone.