Charlie Davies Transfer: The Plot Thickens?

While the French media reported a few days ago that Hammarby’s American striker Charlie Davies had all but locked up a deal with Sochaux, methinks the phone lines are burning up between his agent and several clubs, to include Rennes, Saint Etienne, and at least one Bundesliga club.

Word on the street is that the price tag for the 23 year-old US breakout star of the Confederations Cup will be anywhere from is currently somewhere between € 2.5-5 million.

LFV friend in Amsterdam, Greg Seltzer, also reports that Croatian side Hajduk Split are in the mix. So who is the German club? Borussia Dortmund? Stuttgart? How about Bayern Munich, which is still in the market for a striker or two?

My spidey sense tells me that Davies and his agent and playing this one smart and letting the impact of the striker’s continued exploits in the Gold Cup sweeten the deal and add to the list of potential suitors. Stay tuned!

Rennes Fans Vote Bocanegra Mr."Sex On Legs"

You couldn’t make this one up…

Courtesy of Ligue 1:

Carlos Bocanegra’s flawless displays at left-back for Rennes this season have won him many admirers, but it appears that the Californian’s surfer-boy good-looks have also not gone unnoticed.

The 29-year-old American has been voted the Breton club’s most sexy player in an Internet poll, and to celebrate his victory, all female spectators at Rennes’ match with Auxerre on Sunday – which is also International Women’s Day – will be given an eight-page publication with photos and a biography of the USA international.

Bocanegra, Rennes Grab A Point At Lyon

Facing a home side bent on revenge for a 3-0 loss earlier this season, Carlos Bocanegra and Rennes marched into Lyon’s Stade Gerland tonight and took a point from the league leaders.

Rennes came out with a good measure of confidence, trading scoring chances with Lyon from the beginning . In the 12th minute, Bocanegra appeared to have given Rennes an early lead when, displaying an NBA-quality vertical jump, he out-jumped the keeper to put away corner for an apparent goal. Unfortunately, it was called back for a foul in the area.

Star Lyon striker Karim Benzema started after all but was effectively marked out of most of the match by Rennes captain Petter Hansson with no small amount of shirt pulling by the big Swede.
Bocanegra and Hansson both directed the defense well with Bocanegra also serving the midfielders and forwards with some clever through balls. Bocanegra also did a good job of preventing Ederson from sending any effective crosses across the Rennes goal.

Coming back into the drizzle from the halftime break tied 0-0, both teams played tug-of-war until the 63rdh minute when Benzema finally beat Hansson but then couldn’t beat Rennes keeper Nicolas Douchez. Rennes countered with a nice over-the-top ball to striker Jimmy Briand who muffed a golden opportunity to give his team the lead. Lyon then pounced quickly, thanks to quick and excellent distribution from keeper Lloris which was touched on to Kader Keita who then slotted the ball left to a criminally unmarked Kim Källström who cranked it into the Rennes goal for a 1-0 lead.

Rennes answered yet again with Briand being sprung by a through ball from Fabian Lemoine, finding himself once again one-on-one with the keeper, only to muff the shot in the 68th minute. Benzema left the match in the 73rd minute after suffering a sneaky hip check from Rennes midfielder Moussa Sow.

Both teams continued to probe and attack with Rennes shifting to a 3-5-2 in the 75th minute and Bocanergra becoming more involved in supporting attacks forward. Rennes applied good pressure on a tiring Lyon team from the 80th to 88th minutes and it looked like they would go home empty handed and frustrated by Briand’s missed chances.

But Briand finally came through in injury time, when a Lemoine long ball was flicked forward to him by Hansson, which he collected and fired home for a 1-1 draw. The result placed Rennes in 6th place with a total of 43 points, four of them coming against Lyon this season.

Bocanegra, Rennes Head Into The Lyon’s Den

American defender Carlos Bocanegra and his Rennes teammates face perhaps their stiffest test of the year as they head into Stade Gerland tonight to take on league leaders Olympique Lyon.

Fresh off nearly toppling the mighty Barcelona on Wednesday night in the Champions League (a match which ended 1-1), Lyon coach Claude Puel is looking to carry the same attacking spirit into tonight’s match.

The real reason Bocanegra and his team will have their hands full is that this same red-hot Lyon is itching for revenge from a humiliating 3-0 loss at the hands of Rennes in the Stade del la Route-de-Lorient back on October 5th (their worst loss of the year). Lyon, a team accustomed to winning trophies every year, hates to lose – but to losing to those “upstart punks from Bretgane” really got their goat.

Lyon is expected to start essentially the same lineup as they used Wednesday against Barca with the possible exception of hometown hero and striker, Karim Benzema, who may be rested initially in favor of Frederic Piquionne. The six-foot, two-inch Piquionne is deceptively fast and always dangerous on set piece plays (not to mention he is even more dangerous when served by the sublime dead ball skills of Juninho).

Questions remains whether Lyon will be able to bring the same 90 minute intensity tonight against a better rested Rennes side. Can their boisterous home crowd help carry them through?

A road win could vault Rennes back to 5th place while a draw would bring then even with Lille in 6th place in Ligue 1. Lyon, sitting atop the league with a comfortable six point cushion over Toulouse, can always use the points but tonight, its all about pride.

Lyon has not lost at home so far this season while Rennes has only won three wins on the road (out of 12 played so far). Rennes has earned six draws on the road so stealing a point from a fatigued Lyon side could represent success for Guy Lacombe’s side, provided they can withstand the early barrage from the revenge-minded home team.

Bocanegra is expected, as usual, to start at left back for Stade Rennais, which is expected to play a 4-5-1 of striker Briand, midfielders Br.Cheyrou, Sow, Danze’, Mbia and Lemoine, a back line of Bocanegra, Aubey, Hansson, and Fanni, plus Douchez in goal.

More later after the match.

Monaco: Park And Adu Doubtful For Sunday

AS Monaco will probably go into Sunday night’s match against Nice after the club announced that strikers Chu-Yong park and Freddy Adu have picked up similar injuries in training this week. Park is suffering from pain to the patellar tendon of the right knee while Adu is experiencing hip pain after taking some hard knocks during practice. Both are sitting out training for 48 hours and are doubtful for Sunday’s match unless they pass a last minute fitness test.

Bocanegra at Rennes: "A Real Leader"

On Monday, Carlos Bocanegra and his Stade Rennais teammates got off to a good start in 2009 with a 1-0 Coupe de France victory over Sochaux.

The team is currently in third place in Ligue 1 with 34 points, four points behinds leaders Olympique Lyon and one point behind second place Bordeaux.

Reflecting on how the team’s new additions have done during the first half of the season, manager Guy LaCombe told the Ouest-France: he saw “a good surprise with Kader Mangane (pictued on the far right) in central defense and as for Carlos Bocanegra, on balance I knew he would fit right in and he’s turned out to be a real leader. ”

Bocanegra and the rest of the the Rennes squad will start the chase for the league championship on Saturday at home against FC Nantes. At the same time, Lyon is reportedly interested in acquiring Rennes right back Rod Fanni, who has started every game for the club this season.

When asked about the report, Fanni told the French media: “I’ve heard talk. Lyon has made contact with my agent. I won’t lie, there were discussions but between that and saying I’m on my way… it’s way too soon. They simply made enquiries. I would like to stay at Rennes for at least the rest of the season because things are going well here. After that, we’ll see.”

If the club ends up selling Fanni this summer, they would be wise to consider picking up FC Toronto’s Marvell Wynne, whose speed and technical ability would make him a perfect fit.

Photo courtesy of Ouest-France

Bocanegra and Rennes Top Adu’s Monaco

Stade Rennais’ Carlos Bocanegra went the full 90 and AS Monaco’s Freddy Adu came on in the 69th minute in a 2-1 home win for Rennes. Bocanegra was among the match’s most efficient players with 73% of his passes being successful. Adu had only a handful of touches in the late going but did manage to take a shot which went wide of the Rennes goal.

Monaco did well to maintain possession but continue to struggle to create dangerous scoring chances, producing only one shot on goal today. Their attack still seems static and without much creative flair.

The win put Rennes into 3rd place in Ligue 1 on 25 points while Monaco continue to struggle in 14th place with 16 points. Bocanegrea has established himself well as the mainstay of the Red and Blacks as they continue to pick up points at a respectable pace but are still five points shy of league leader Olympique Lyon.

Adu continues to struggle for minutes at Monaco, making it less likely the team will decide to take the buy option on his loan deal from Benfica. That said, the longer the team floats in the lower half of the table, the more pressure there will be on coach Ricardo Gomes to shake things up, especially in their lackluster midfield. Whether that shakeup leaves room for Adu remains to be seen.

Lyon- Monaco Starting Soon

Freddy Adu’s AS Monaco faces their stiffest test of the season when league leader Olympique Lyon travels to the Rock tonight looking for three points. Adu looks set to start the game on the bench but look for Monaco to throw the kitchen sink at the Lyon juggernaut if they want to salvage at least a point. Follow the match here.

UPDATE: FREDDY ADU WATCHED FROM THE BENCH AS FRED SCORED A 56TH MINUTE GOAL TO GIVE LYON THE LEAD FOR GOOD. FINAL SCORE: LYON 1, MONACO 0.

Probable Lineups (Courtesy of Le Championnat):

AS MONACO FC OLYMPIQUE LYONNAIS
Saturday, November 08, 2008 – 19:00
STADE LOUIS II

MONACO

Starters:

16 RUFFIER
12 ADRIANO
14 SIMIC (c)
25 CUFRE
3 NKOULOU NDOUBENA
6 POKRIVAC
19 GOSSO
23 LEKO
26 MOLLO
10 PARK
22 LICATA

Substitutes:

30 ROMA
4 MODESTO
2 MONGONGU
21 MERIEM
9 SAGBO LATTE
11 ADU
27 NIMANI

LYON
Starters:

1 LLORIS
3 CRIS (c)
4 BOUMSONG
11 GROSSO
20 REVEILLERE
6 KÄLLSTRÖM
17 MAKOUN
19 DELGADO
28 TOULALAN
9 FRED
14 GOVOU

Substitutes:

30 VERCOUTRE
32 GASSAMA
7 EDERSON
26 SANTOS
36 FAURE
10 BENZEMA
27 MOUNIER

Eleswhere in France, Carlos Bocanegra and Stade Rennais take on St Etienne Sunday at 5 PM (Central European Time)

PSG: Onyewu’s New Home?

As the final hours tick away on this summer’s transfer window, the faithful of Paris Saint-German seem to think they’ll see American Oguchi Onyewu suiting up for them very soon. PSG has been searching for a new starting defender after Lilliam Thuram retired due to a heart condition and attempts to find a quality replacement had failed. Monaco and Marseille (the club he almost signed with in 2007) had also previously expressed an interest with Marseille dropping out of the running last Thursday. According to today’s Le Parisien, Monaco is opting for Swiss international Patrick Müller so if Gooch ends up in France, PSG will probably be his new home.

Still, much could change in the coming hours so stay tuned…

In other news, American Danny Szetela went the distance for Serie B side Brescia in yesterday’s 2-2 draw with Empoli.

Monaco: Still Interested in Bradley?

Yet another twist in the Bradley transfer saga as the deadline approaches in just five days. After there seeming to be much interest from Monaco for Heerenveen’s American midfielder Michael Bradley a few weeks ago, they then focused on Betis Seville’s Marko Babic as a new offensive option. This morning here in Europe, word has come out on Footmercato.fr that ASM has not agreed terms on Babic and is now taking another look at bringing Bradley on board.

Looking over at the state of play on Standard Liege’s American defender Oguchi Onyewu, PSG looks less likely as an option as word came out last night that the Paris side wants to acquire defender Jean-Alain Boumsong from Olympique Lyon.