After beating Entente du Crest-Aouste (0-4) in the previous round, the U19s travel to Toulon on Sunday in the Round of 64 of the Gambardella (at 2.30pm). A chance for their coach, Emerse Faé, to discuss a competition that he is a fan of, given that he won the cup in 2002 with Nantes… against the Gym (1-0)!

Is the Gambardella one of your main objectives? 

I take this competition as an extra on top of the league. Of course, we want to have a good run and the further we go, the more serious we take it. If we get into the Round of 16 or the quarter finals, at that moment in time, we can set objectives. It would add a bit of heat to the end of the season.

What did you make of your side’s first game at Crest?

It was a fairly calm match, against a district side. It’s against clubs at the regional level that there can be a bit of a banana skin. My players did the job.

“They will be up for it” 

What are you expecting from this match against Toulon?

Here we can talk about a potential banana skin. We have already played them in the league (1-2 victory). They will be right up for it, that’s for sure. We won’t take this game lightly.

How does a player feel when playing in the Gambardella?

When you manage to get right into the competition, it’s a real adventure! It also allows them to get more coverage than they are used to. On a personal level, everything went very quickly that year, I was also world champion with the France U17s. Two years after these titles, I signed as a pro. Everything can move very quickly.

Which must provide an extra source of motivation…

To go to the end and to play the final at the Stade de France, it’s an incredible reward! This competition belongs to the youngsters: it needs to be their “thing”. Crest kept us in the draw and was a good result. Now, it is going to be more difficult, but we have the quality. If the players bring the spirit that goes with it, we could do something,

R.B. / F.H.

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