Annecy have an opportunity to reach the final of the Coupe de France for the first time in club history when they host Toulouse at Parc des Sports on Thursday.
Last month, the Southeastern French side stunned the 10-time winners of this tournament, Marseille, eliminating them in a penalty shootout, while Les Violets were convincing 6-1 winners against Rodez, making the semi-finals for the first time since the 2008-09 campaign.
Match preview
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It has been a nervy few matches for Laurent Guyot to observe from the sidelines, but to their credit, Annecy have managed to keep their cool each time, winning three successive Coupe de France games on penalties.
On two of those occasions, they have had to overcome some early setbacks, including at the Stade Velodrome in early March when Jordan Veretout gave the home side a 1-0 lead after 29 minutes, while the visitors nearly gave the match away, conceding an injury-time equaliser for a second successive encounter in this competition as their match with Marseille finished 2-2 after normal time.
This club has been through its share of trials and tribulations, going from a fourth-tier side in 2019-20 to a coaching irregularities scandal in 2021, and now being two games away from what would no doubt be the greatest triumph in their history.
Their run is even more remarkable given how much this team have struggled this season in the second tier of French football, winless in five successive domestic fixtures, losing 4-0 at Nimes on Saturday, putting them a mere four points above the relegation zone.
Should they pull off another upset on Thursday, Annecy would become the first team in Ligue 2 to make the final of this competition since Auxerre in 2015.
Coming into this match, they are winless in their previous two league fixtures played at Parc des Sports but have not lost a home game in this competition since December 2019, when FC Chambly Oise defeated them 2-1.
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By and large, it has been a solid campaign for Toulouse, who sit 13th in their first season back in Ligue 1 and with a chance to reach the Coupe de France final for only the second time.
The first time they did it, their 58-year-old manager Philippe Montanier was not even born when Les Pitchouns defeated Angers 6-3 in what is still to this day the highest-scoring final in Coupe de France history.
Throughout this season's tournament, they have been consistently sharp and prolific, notching three or more goals on three occasions while outscoring their opponents by a margin of 18-3.
Their form away from home in Ligue 1, however, has been relatively poor all season, with Toulouse winning only three times, all against teams currently in or near the relegation zone (Angers, Auxerre and Strasbourg), while they have conceded three or more goals in five road matches, losing 3-1 at Brest on Saturday.
Toulouse have not lost to a Ligue 2 opponent in this competition since January 2008, when Paris FC beat them 2-1 in the third round.
At the same time, Le Tef have had difficulty versus teams lower than them in the French league system, having been knocked out by Saint-Pryve FC, Rumilly Val and FC Versailles, respectively, over their previous three Coupe de France campaigns.
Team News
Guyot made three changes to his starting 11 this past weekend from the Annecy side which began their previous encounter at home to Guingamp, bringing in Hady Camara, Arnold Temnfo and Vincent Pajot in place of Jonathan Ruque, Francois Lajugie and Madyen El Jaouhari.
Moise Sahi and Kevin Mouanga scored six minutes apart, giving Annecy a 2-1 lead in their quarter-final fixture at Marseille, winning on penalties (7-6) when Leonardo Balerdi fired his effort wide from 12 yards away.
Thomas Callens has played a massive part in their run to the semi-finals, stopping a total of seven penalty kicks at the Coupe de France this season, including one from Alexis Sanchez late in the previous round and one from Nuno Tavares with Annecy trailing in the shootout after Ahmed Kashi missed his spot kick.
Toulouse have a relatively healthy squad heading into this encounter with no injuries to report, as Anthony Rouault is eligible to play despite being red-carded over the weekend versus Brest.
Thijs Dallinga had a brace in their quarter-final triumph over Rodez, his third and fourth of this competition, putting him one back of Kylian Mbappe, Sahi and Pajot, with the other Toulouse goals coming from Zakaria Aboukhlal, Branco van den Boomen, Fares Chaibi and Gabriel Suazo.
In their only road fixture at the Coupe de France this season, Les Pitchouns had another outpouring of goals with a pair of strikes from Dallinga, while Naatan Skytta, Yanis Begraoui, Veljko Birmancevic, Stijn Spierings also found the mark and an own goal from Damien Boisvilliers gave them a 7-1 victory over Lannion.
Annecy possible starting lineup:
Callens; Temanfo, Lajugie, Mouanga, Jean, Bastian; Pajot, Kashi, Demoncy, Balde; Sahi
Toulouse possible starting lineup:
Haug; Kamanzi, Costa, Nicolaisen, Suazo; Dejaegere, Spierings, Van den Boomen; Aboukhlal, Dallinga, Chaibi
We say: Annecy 0-0 Toulouse (Annecy advances on penalties)
Strange things can happen in these single elimination matches, as numerous Ligue 1 clubs can attest to this season, and we expect the home crowd and some heroic goalkeeping could be enough for Annecy to cause another upset.
Both sides are in poor form domestically at the moment, but the pressure will be squarely on the shoulders of Toulouse, who have not handled that well in past Coupe de France campaigns, which could give the home team the psychological edge they need to triumph.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Joel Lefevre
