This afternoon, near the annexes of the stadium of Costieres, it floated in the air like a perfume of D1. Nîmes, a young man promoted in the 2015/2016 season, received the grand Lyon for his first pre-season friendly match. A good way to gauge yourself before the start of a competition where each point counts?

Nimes in running, the hard reality of the promoted
Last year, it was against another Olympique that the Nîmes had to face, that of Marseille!
In a few weeks, it will be with Olympique Lyonnais that they will have to compose. As their opponent of the day, the players of the FFNM have a male counterpart whose colors they share, ambitions, but with a lower budget (about 250 000 €). And even if the team strengthened during the summer transfer window, we are far from international transfers from the last World Cup.
Difficult under these conditions to think to be able to stumble the best female team for 9 seasons ... So imagine how the equation is hard when we are still in the settings and we play his first competition among the elite ? It's complicated, like finding your place when you know the fate that awaits almost 2 out of 3 at the end of the championship: relegation!
And yet today, the annex of the stadium costières was full of good humor, fighting spirit and the desire to make a performance worthy of a gala match. As often during their travels, the Lyonnaises could count on the presence in number of their supporters whose songs resounded during 90 minutes, always in the joy and the good humor.

Unlike previous pre-season games, this match did not take the form of a 3-third time of 30 minutes, but in the traditional 2-part format of 45 minutes each.

Lyon, the scoring machine

From the kick-off, the offensive hinge Lyon will sow a great mess in the defense Nîmes, from the midfield to the edge of the cages of Delphine Saez. The Gardoises show a certain naivety in their defensive positions, lose many balls and end up getting caught up in the attack. So after a few minutes of play, they cash a first goal Lotta Schelin very well served by Mylaine Tarrieu. The latter will also make a very good 1st half-time left thanks to his accelerations in the hallway and his availability. The dynamics of this meeting will very quickly run out, perhaps too much for the reds who will cash a second goal of Elodie Thomis then a 3rd Ada Hegerberg in less than a quarter of a game. However, Nimes will still react and reposition to close the spaces and slow down the enemy attacks.
At the end of half-time, Amandine Henry crucified the whole defense by trying her luck from afar: she lobes the goalkeeper and scored the fourth goal of the game, certainly the most beautiful.
In stoppage time, captain Wendie Renard added her stone to the building by scoring the lead, so the score is 5 goals to 0 for Olympique Lyonnais.

The news has become well integrated
Returning to the field of the two formations, there are many changes in the 11 starting. Pre-season matches allow each player to play time and test new combinations. On the Nîmes side, there are a few more pep's in the conquest of the ball, but not enough to find the fault in the defense Rhone.
Very quickly, the game resumes as in the first half, the fenottes confiscate the ball and the crocodiles undergo offensive actions on offensive actions, in short the boat costs ... Eugénie Le Sommer, Pauline Bremer and Corine Petit will take the opportunity to write their name on the list of the scorers of the day.
This is how we recognize the big teams of very large teams, 10 goals = 8 scorers! Beyond these individualities, we note especially that new recruits have very well integrated into the group already in place. In the absence of Louisa Necib, Claire Lavogez seems to have already found its marks and has distilled very good balloons in the game and on set pieces.
Even if a delta seems to separate the 2 manpower, at the final whistle, we saw a lot of complicit gestures between the players who even cleaned up next to each other.

The reactions
Marie Mahistre (FFNM): "The defeat is difficult given the score, now we knew that it was going to be complicated in front of such a team"

Final score: 0-10 (Schelin 5 ', Thomis 13', Hegerberg 14 ', Henry 42', Fox 45 ', The Sommer 51', Bremer 63 '76', Small 80 ', CSC 83')
Compo Nimes: Saez, Saulnier, Faure, Gayton, Mahgre, Pervier, Hamu, Tebbi, Ayachi, Kouame, Ramos - Coach: Agniel / Gros
Compo Lyon: Gerard - Kaci, Kumagai, Fox, Tarrieu - Perisset, Henry, Abily - Hegerberg, Schelin, Thomis - Coach: Preacher

Photo credits: Cyrielle B. Sport'N'Pics