D2 : What have the Olympians got to ? First assess...

By Philippe Serve

At the third of the season, OM féminin hold a beautiful second place, 2 pts behind the leader Nimes, a team the Olympians are going to meet on Sunday. OLYMPIENNES ET MARSEILLAISES, the only website dedicated exclusively to OM’s girls, offers you a first assess...

The story of OM’s women's section began three years ago, on October 5, 2011. A resurrection, after more than a quarter century of extinction, the last occurrence of a OM team combined with girls was back to the 1985-1986 season. It is well-known that the club decided to ignore the hypothesis of a possible merger with Celtic Marseille (now FAMF), who was playing in DH. Starting from scratch, boosted by its own strength only, from the very bottom, in District, that is the 5th Division, that was the challenge... 37 months later, the Olympians are in D2, having swallowed three divisions in three years. The balance sheet at the time of writing this article is : 77 league games, 67 wins, 6 draws, 4 losses, 394 goals for, 38 against... An average score of 5 to 0.5...

A 2014-15 season well underway…

OM féminin has started its fourth season of existence to an even higher level : after the District, the Challenger DH (+ Elite), the DH (+ Interregion), here is the Division 2 so much dreamed about by Christophe Parra and his players. Always with the same goals : to show themselves worthy of the jersey worn, of the name, of the motto "Droit au but !” (Straight to the goal !). The Olympians know the skyline : D1. The elite. The Grail...

At the time of the kickoff of the season’s first game in Toulouse, one of the big favorites of the group with Nîmes, there were some certainties (the unity of the group, the game plan, individual talents, mental strength) and many unknowns. Only seven players in the Olympian squad could claimed former experience at this level, and even beyond for the first two girls : the captain Léa Rubio, Caroline Pizzala, Charline Marcilly, Cecilia Vignal, the very young Pauline Cousin (19 y.o.), Amandine Blanc (18) and Éloise Vallet (18). Marcilly and Vignal being injured for the first five matches, Blanc still in rehabilitation, the amount of prior experience was not great. And just think of young Tess Laplacette, a regular starter at... 15 years old !

On the eve of this first game, Christophe Parra told us : "We will discover that environment, trying to prepare ourselves for the best for this first stage of the D2 Tour de France. And then we will draw the first conclusions..." So, what are these initial findings ? First, the stats:

7 games played, 5 wins, 1 draw, 1 loss, 19 goals for, 9 against, +10. A 2nd place in the ranking (23 pts out of 28), 2 pts behind the leader Nîmes, the big favorite in this group C.

The matches, in chronological order:

Day1: loss in Toulouse (1-3)

D2: win in Muret (5-0)

D3 : win against Aurillac (4-1)

D4 : win in Claix (2-1)

D5 : win against Monteux (3-1)

D6 : draw in Nivolas-Vermelle (2-2)

D7 : win against La Véore-Montoison (2-1)

That is 3 matches at home (3 w, 9 gf, 3 ga) and 4 away (2 w, 1 d, 1 l, 10 gf, 6 ga).

Amongst these 7 games, OM met a major favorite to the accession (Toulouse), 3 teams having finished amongst the first six last year (Claix, Monteux, Aurillac) and one relegated from D1 (Muret). In other words, a very complicate schedule…

… and a very positive intermediate assess

Given all the above, how not to consider this championship’s first third as extremely positive ? Was everything not so perfect? Right. Some hiccups occurred, goals were taken that they would not have been, and conversely many Olympians attempts have failed to end in the nets. OM was sometimes put in great danger : Claix, Nivolas, Véore with come-backs and victories robbed in the final seconds...

We may be worried that the last two games have been precisely those ones, as we shall see later. But we must also take comfort : when you are promoted and have the technique and the mental strength to come back every time and win (or at least not lose), you send a clear and strong message that this team never gives up, and the points are raked in. The best musicians are paid at the end of the ball, and meanwhile, golden points adorn the purse...

On the evening of May 25, when the referee’s whistle is heard at the end of the 22nd and final meeting of the season, OM-Toulouse, it will not matter whether such and such victory was taken with the teeth or after crushing everything from the first to the last second. The rankings will be looked at. First or not. It will be the only truth of the moment. An access to D1 or not.

Are the last two games worrying ?

The statement above, resolutely optimistic and positive, should not obscure the analysis provided and prevent legitimate questions. Do the Olympians have a "shot worse" ? It is undeniable that both games framing the Saints break were hardly reassuring, sending cold sweat among fans, and in no doubt along the coach’s neck.

In Nivolas, on one hand, with two goals taken in the first fifteen minutes, and a chase that ended in a draw. The team displayed an obvious fatigue. However somewhat hardly surprising, given the efforts made since the start of the season with the four weekly training sessions after long days of work, the share of all non-professional teams. And even if OM has optimal, even exceptional conditions and infrastructure at this level, the efforts required again and again end nevertheless by wearing the bodies out. Every game is a battle, because the OM is not seen as a promoted team, but as the team to beat. Because it is OM...

The post-break match showed an odd scenario again. Playing at home (against La Véore-Montoison) with numerical superiority after the opposite goalie had been sent off before halftime, the Olympians managed to take a goal afterwards and ran once more after the score. Two goals in the last ten minutes saved the house again...

Did the players picture themselves already in holiday in Nivolas... and not back yet from it against Véore ? Maybe... Had the absence of injured Léa Rubio during the first of these games, and her keeping (for caution) on the bench for an hour in the second, anything to do with these mistakes ? Well, we would tend to think so. Her late entry against Véore coincided with the score going from 0-1 to 2-1... Do the girls begin to think a bit too much they’re really good ? Does the previously mentioned environmental comfort make them overconfident ? Do their tremendous and ongoing media coverage by the club — its efforts for its women’s section, unique in France today, will never be praised enough —go to their head ? It is very, very difficult to endorse it, when we know the concern of permanent humility from Christophe Parra, his staff, and the natural leaders of the team, Léa Rubio and Caroline Pizzala...

Do the constant pressure of the result (because it is OM !), the eulogies started as soon as the criticisms (that too is OM...) destabilize the young minds ? Go and figure... Or was it just a soft shot against two opponents seen as weaker than the previous ones ? It would not be so paradoxical. Just remember (and proportionally) the difficult sequence of the Lyonnaises ogresses last year against the modest Yzeure and Rodez (1-0, 2-1)... It is forgotten because it was temporary, gave 8 points anyway, and at the end Lyon was crowned...

The answer to all these questions will be given maybe — even probably —next Sunday... OM goes to Nimes, to the leader’s ground, and the players will know the challenge : a win, and the Olympians would top their group, a real feat. A draw would be a very good performance, considering the quality of the opponent. A defeat, even glorious, would put the Olympians 5 pts behind the Gardoises again and complicate the situation, without prejudice to the final situation in May 25 anyway...

Three reasons to go there with the urge to knock everything over, find again energy, determination, ambition, OM féminin’s usual qualities. Run again straight to the Goal. Believe in their strength and their fate, because — and to paraphrase the school-teacher and emblematic captain Léa Rubio — "The Olympians are seeds aimed to bloom." *

P.S.

 * « Each child is a see called to bloom » (cf. ITW of Léa)

To read (in French) :

Analyse de la 7e journée de D2 (groupe C).

Christophe Parra’s ITW (sept. 2014 – 1ere partie, 2e partie).

Léa Rubio’s ITW (sept. 2014 – 1ere partie, 2e partie).

Anaïs Hatchi’s ITW .

Photos : OM.Net, Philippe Serve, FFF.

© Philippe Serve / olympiennesetmarseillaises.com