Mid-January has passed, but US Orléans is only starting its 2022 year. After two postponed matches (Sedan and Concarneau) due to Covid-19 in the yellow and red squad, Loïc Goujon and his teammates resume competition this Friday, January 21, at the Stade de la Source against Boulogne sur Mer for the 19th day of National. Even if it was more than a month ago, the USO remains on a victory, in Bourg-en-Bresse.
“A second championship that is starting”, according to Xavier Collin
“It was frustrating this false start, but health above all. We have prepared as well as possible, despite the difficult circumstances, and we are going to give the maximum. But there are no excuses: we are ready“, lance Loic Goujon, who finds his old team. “We have this fear of having a little hole in the rhythm, necessarily“, concedes the midfielder.”The best is to have it in the second half or at the time of the changes, so if we’re cooked we go out directly, it’s sure that if it happens from the start it’s going to be complicated“, completes the 26-year-old player.
The USO Coach, Xavier Collin expect him to rely on this long break “not always easy to manage“, to mark a real break with the first part of the season: “It is a second championship which will start. Watchword ? To earn. For that, we must rely on our values: commitment, solidarity, determination. We know that we are capable of doing very good things, but we will first have to rely on our defensive solidity and correct our main flaw: inefficiency in front of goal.“. A victory against the Pas-de-Calaisiens would above all make it possible to gain confidence before tackling the match against Sedan on Tuesday and the perilous trip to Concarneau on Saturday 29 January.
A bad opponent
Opposite, US Orléans may have the ideal opponent to revive, Boulogne-sur-Mer, National’s Red Lantern, who saw his last game (against Red Star) postponed, also for Covid cases in his team. But Loïc Goujon is wary: “I had echoes of players still there, they are not dead, so they are in the perspective of bringing back points. He’s a wounded beast.“Boulogne-sur-Mer has only won two games this season. The last was on September 10 at Bastia-Borgo. In the first leg, in Pas-de-Calais, Boulogne-sur-Mer and USO ended in a 1-1 draw.
Offensively, US Orléans will have to compose without several of its attackers. Carnéjy Antoine has gone to Portugal, Fabien Ourega and Aymen Souda are ruled out, as for Moussa Saydi, he is about to leave and is not in the group either. Frank Etoundi trains until the end of the week with the club before being offered a contract or not. According to club CEO Boris Luce, several attackers are tracked to digitally replace the departures, tracks must be unlocked in the coming days, or even this weekend. From loans are preferred.
