This Thursday, SAS Epinal welcomed Saint-Etienne for the quarter-finals of the Cup of France. The game took place at Marcel Picot Stadium and ended up with a 2-1 victory of The Greens. The goals of Denis Bouanga and Mahdi Camara were important for Saint-Etienne’s qualification. While Jean-Philippe Krasso scored the only goal of the home side.
Both teams were clearly studying the match during the first minutes, trying to find the best way to get to the goal. With the two sides fighting for the ball, it was not a surprise when many fouls started to happen and yellow cards were shown. The first good chance of scoring was for the hosts, however, the first goal came to the visitors.
At the 37th minute, Bouanga received a beautiful assist from Frank Honorat and shot in the right corner to score a great goal, past goalkeeper Jerome Idir.
In the second half, losing by one goal, Epinal came back trying to put pressure and attack, searching for the draw. However, it backfired. At the 58th minute, Mathieu Debuchy served Camara, who only had to finish into the left corner to score the second goal of the Greens.
4 minutes later, the hosts had their chance to score when Krasso was brought down inside the box and they were awarded a penalty. It was the number 11 who stepped up and converted from the spot. However, it was not enough to avoid the defeat at home.
With the 2-1 victory, Saint-Etienne qualified for the French Cup semifinals and will face Lyon.
In Ligue 1, they will face Stade Brestois, this Sunday. On the other hand, SAS Epinal, who plays for the French second division, will travel to face Mullhouse, seeking to redeem themselves after the elimination in the competition.