Coupe de France – Round of 32: Strasbourg first qualified for the 16th after his victory in Valenciennes (0-1)

The Alsatians are the first to qualify for the round of 16 of the Coupe de France. The Strasbourg players performed the minimum but sufficient service to win in Valenciennes, Thursday evening, in the middle of a thick fog (0-1). Habib Diallo quickly unblocked the situation (15th) and Julien Stéphan’s men then made their mastery speak against Northerners limited offensively.

Despite their reinforced defense to model themselves on the system of play of the visitors, the Valenciennois immediately undergone the opposing control. Too cautious and too timid, they got stuck in their camp and were quick to crack. Arrived in front of the VA area, Kévin Gameiro shifted Adrien Thomasson to the right for a low cross that Diallo came to cut at the near post to beat Hillel Konaté (0-1, 15th). The Senegalese striker signed his 9th goal of the season and put his team on the right track.

If VA timidly tried to respond, Strasbourg almost doubled the lead in the first half hour but Gameiro sent his small strike in the race in the heart of the truth zone on the right post of Konaté (28th). The men of Christophe Delmotte, appointed at the beginning of November, finally showed more aggressiveness at the end of the first period and Gaëtan Robail placed a nice header on a center back from Floyd Ayité but Frédéric Guilbert saved in front of the cage of Eiji Kawashima ( 38th).

Strasbourg in master’s degree

On resumption, the current 17th in Ligue 2 who had already completed two rounds in the competition, confirmed their new more offensive arrangements Anthony Caci had to give of himself to counter a dangerous recovery from Noah Diliberto (51st). Gameiro, he almost conceded a penalty by returning to defend in his area, but the referee did not see a fault on the hard-hitting Mohamed Kaba (56th). Kawashima and Gerzino Nyamsi then pushed back in extremis to six meters a small cross from Robail from the left (60th), while Ayité sent his shot over the target in stride (61st).

After these hot situations, Strasbourg set foot on the ball in midfield to calm the game and regain its serenity. Once again masters of the debates, the Alsatians easily put an end to the revolt of their opponents who never knew how to catch up with their late goal and suffered a second defeat in a row under the orders of Delmotte after that in front of Paris FC last weekend. (1-4). Conversely, the RCSA has successfully entered the running and is recovering from its setback against OM in Ligue 1 (0-2). It will be at the rendezvous of the 16th at the very beginning of the year 2022.