The people of Nice, always so unpredictable, snatched a draw at the last second against Strasbourg. Trailing 2-1 after opening the score, they equalized in the 90+4 minute thanks to Ndayishimiye.
We challenge you to make the right prediction before the end of an OGC Nice match. Even less at its start… Capable of the best and the worst from one half to another, one match to another and from one competition to another, both at home and away, Nice is one of the most unpredictable teams this season.
This time again, the Aiglons did not deviate from their habits as fluctuating as the CAC 40 and the Dow Jones combined. They deflate during their strong moments and they rise from their ashes at times when we think they’re done for…
A goal against the run of play as usual
While the Strasbourg players started the first half at full throttle, pushed by a packed stadium, rushing valiantly into attack outrageously, the Nice defense repelled the assaults one after the other, both through a dense and effective regrouping and through the help of the excellent Marcin Bulka, ever-present, as usual. A rupture could be felt during each attack by the locals, visibly more eager to grab the three points leading to the podium. But OGC Nice held on nonetheless. And it was against the run of play that Melvin Bard, curiously forgotten by the Alsatian defense, opened the score in the 38th minute, with a long ball from Jonathan Clauss (0-1).
The collapse of Nice in four minutes flat…
Once again, one could think that the Aiglons would seize this opportunity to maintain their momentum and the lead snatched before halftime. But old habits are hard to break and once again, a few minutes after the restart, the Aiglons will quickly be disillusioned and come down from their cloud, losing altitude abruptly, on two actions led by the Strasbourg players. The first saw the reduction of the score by the Dutchman Emegha, who won his duel with Bombito (51’) and headed for goal to execute a precise shot just inside the post, which Bulka saw flash by like a rocket (1-1). The second, by Amo-Ameyaw on a recovery from Bombito’s feet by Andrey Santos, who served Amo-Ameyaw on the right. The young Englishman cuts in and finishes with his right. Bulka deflects the ball but doesn’t stop it (2-1).
An unexpected equalizer!
No one could imagine at that point, that Nice had the necessary resources to return to the match, as the intensity was decreasing as the minutes passed. A triple substitution made by Franck Haise (Moffi, Sanson, and Bouanani replacing Guessand, Santamaria, and Dante) was required to see a bit more initiative in attack, even if it was still insufficient to bend the Alsatian defense. But once again, while we were heading unsurprisingly toward a defeat for the Aiglons, you could hardly believe what happened… on one last occasion that even saw the goalkeeper Bulka come up to try his luck on this last corner taken by Clauss, Ndayishimiye appeared at the same time as Marcin Bulka to score a decisive header and cool down the Meinau stadium with a goal at the 90’+4 , but oh, how precious! We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: no one can predict the score of an OGC Nice match this season until the referee whistles the end. Maybe this will also apply to the podium? Who knows with this Nice team, truly capable of the worst and the best!
Dante: “We are all united, it’s magnificent!”
“There is always a teammate who makes a mistake and that’s football. Today it was him (Bombito) and tomorrow it will be someone else. We tried to correct his mistake but we didn’t succeed. That’s how it is… In any case, in the locker room, we all went to him to comfort him and show our solidarity. It’s a magnificent team spirit and I’m very happy about it as a leader. At halftime, the coach told us that the first fifteen minutes after the restart were going to be difficult for us with a lot of intensity and commitment from them. We weren’t very surprised by their comeback.”