Nantes secured a solid grip on first place in Ligue 2 with a 2-1 victory in front of a crowd of nearly 28,000 at Stade de la Beaujoire in Nantes on Friday evening.
Ajaccio led 1-0 at the half. Nantes equalized in the 57th minute on a goal by David de Freitas described as a copy of his game winning goal on Monday in Niort. It appeared that Ajaccio had escaped with a tie until Nicolas Gousse rose above the goal mouth crowd to score on a header in the 90th minute. In keeping with the wacky finish earlier in the week at Niort however, the game had still another exciting moment as time ticked away. The 4th official allotted three minutes of extra time. Deep into the extra time, in what the Nantes website describes as the 94th minute, Ajaccio appeared to have equalized. Surely this must have been the last action allowed by the referee before his whistle ended the game and Ajaccio's hopes were dashed at this very final moment. The goal was not allowed for reasons unclear to this English speaker. Here's the description from the Nantes Live Update, someone help me:
EGALISATION d'AJACCIO..... hors jeu !!!! Serge Dié est sanctionné pour contestations.
"Hors jeu"? Except "jeu"? Isn't that play? Or something similar? Whatever the reason an Ajaccio player received a yellow card from protesting the decision. I suspect it must have been an offside call or something similar, a judgment call with which M. Dié did not agree.
As I used to tell the basketball team, you may think it is a foul, it may feel like a foul, but it isn't a foul until the referee says it is a foul and once he says it is a foul there isn't going to be any changing the decision. The referee's decision stands and Nantes wins.
Allez Nantes!
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1 comment:
Hors jeu = off sides. He is penalized for contesting the off sides. Very exciting!
Happy Friday!
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