RED STAR 0 MEAUX 0
Division Honneur - Week 18
Stade Bauer, 21/03/2004
Attendance 250 - Referee : M. Antonio
Booked : Fourneuf (3), Cuervo (28 & 87) - Filtner (29), K. Doukha (60), Baldé (84)
Sent off : Cuervo (87)
RED STAR : Germain, Cuervo, Hammami, Diomande, Fourneuf, N’Simba, Delaneuville, Desmarets, Fellahi, Guei (Marques 73), Desmarets (Budoc 79), Baldé. Sub: Dao Coach: J.L. Girard
MEAUX : Jasmin, Guay, Kébé (K. Doukha 46), Haatit, Saouti, Lacaille, El Moubabit, Morele, Filtner, Dafonseca (Baldé 64), Persa. Sub: R. Doukha. Coach: J. Lemée.
Allezredstar.com man of the match : Hammami
Alhaji Baldé
RUBBISH
I have a friend, a Worksop Town supporter, and one of his favorite sayings which he occasionally yells at matches is aimed towards the match official in the center. "We haven't paid to watch you, ref" has been heard around several non-league grounds in the north of England over the years. Had he been present at Bauer on Sunday, then this little pearl of wisdom might have been used (or a translation thereof) during a dire encounter between Red Star and Meaux.
In a nutshell, Meaux could well lay claim to be the worse visiting team ever to have trod the turf at Saint-Ouen in the stadiums' near-century of existence. Completely inept in virtually every department, only some last-gasp defending, a goalkeeper in fine form (their man-of-the match by far) and some equally woeful finishing by Red Star saved Meaux from a good hiding. At one point the Red Star fans watched in disbelief as a series of passes sailed past their target straight into touch. Even when the pass was accurate, Meaux appeared to blessed with little or ball control skills and inevitable the ball bounced to safety.
Add to this an whistle-happy referee and the whole lot gives a spectacle hardly worth the hassle of leaving the house on a blustery, rainy March afternoon. Too often Red Stars' players saw the glory before applying the finishing touch, and shots whistled high and wide without really troubling the excellent Jasmin, the Meaux goalie. There were good occasions too - Riad Fellahi nearly scored straight from a corner, Balde hesitated when he really should have shot first time, and a number of free-kicks in good places came to nought.
So Super Jackie, the man who didn't rate Tony Cascarino as a goalscorer, left Bauer with a degree of satisfaction having coached a team of no-hopers into stiffling an attacking Red Star into a goalless stupor. In some ways a job well done, but not exactly ideal for football purists. Certainly Meaux were well-versed in the dark arts of cheating - diving, feining injury, time wasting, sneaking yards at free-kicks... Red Stars' frustration boiled over at times - Phil Cuervo received a booking, and Red Star had to finish the game reduced to ten men as he later received a second yellow following a rugged tackle which the Meaux man appeared to milk in order to get a refereeing decision. Other than that, Cuervo had been impressive as an attacking force, but fellow defender Bilal Hammami ran himself into the ground in both defence and attack, popping up everywhere on the pitch. He just shades captain Yoann Delaneuville for the man of the match accolade, despite the enormous workrate put in by Red Stars' influential leader.
© AllezRedStar.com 2004