Les Coqs Gaulois claim dominant road victory in T11 Cup, Advance to Qualifying round in style

Following their first leg victory at the Stade de Rouen 5-1 Olympique Rouen were a confident group but were not taking anything for granted. Even with a 4 goal advantage, which in order to fail to advance would require their worst defeat in club history they had conceded a road goal.

One might expect a club that had never lost by more than 2 goals in 4 seasons to relax a bit with that 4 goal cushion. But this team showed their resolve today, going into a country in which they had never traveled and facing a side that, at least on paper, was similar in quality to their own, they controlled the ball 80% of the time.

"We have a couple new faces but most of us have been together for over 3 years now. We remember how it felt to lift the T11 Cup trophy but we also remember how it feels to be knocked out in the first 3 rounds the past two years. We are determined to not let that happen again. We played well tonight but our job is far from done, we want the treble."

The words of striker Wilson Sanchez who again came away with man of the match honors. His 3 goals in the two legged tie put his career total up to 104 in 3 seasons with the club. This would make him the clear star of most every team at this level but he has been somewhat overshadowed by the other half of the striker pairing in team captain Mikkel Sorensen who has struck 119 over that span to go with his 52 assists, 9 more than Sanchez, though many of each have been to one another.

Rouen came out with a fury, creating chance after chance but lacking the final product. Until the 23rd minute when a beautiful one two between the pair led to the opening goal by Sanchez. That first goal took an already daunting task for the East African side of scoring at minimum 4 times, a feat achieved only twice in 4 years, into a nearly impossible 6 goals by losing the road goal advantage.

The second half started with the hosts coming out swinging but their already slim hopes were crushed ten minutes into the half when Omar Cardenas, having sprinted down the right flank, cut inside and fired a sensational strike from 25 yards right into the top corner on the far side leaving the keeper flat footed.

Another 20 minutes passed with a lot of possession but not much action until a 76th minute foul put CM Fillipo Romano in the book. Christian Segreste swung the ball into the box where once again it was Cardenas who made the play, losing his marker for just the split second he needed to nod the ball into the far side of the net to increase the lead to 3-0.

6 minutes later the scoring finished the way it started, with Sorensen again setting up his partner in crime Sanchez for the 4th goal. There was little celebrating when the final whistle blew. It was all business for the boys from Upper Normandy, advancing through the preliminary round for the 4th straight year with a 9-1 agg victory.

In the post match press conference manager David Grizzle had this to say. "Our goal here was always to get though this first hurdle, the biggest improvement in this team will always come between the preliminary round and the qualifying round. It is the gradual process of getting the team match fit with no preseason and especially this season having the match on such short notice, our boys did a great job again of working hard for 90 minutes and being unselfish on the pitch. You can see the hunger these guys have. They want to win this tournament badly. We got the Champions league monkey off our back last season. We are playing against teams 3 and 4 tiers above us, to win under these conditions is hard but we won't lie down for anyone."

Next up is the Champions league group stage match day one. Kickoff is at 21:18GMT on the 4th at the Stade de Rouen against English side Max FC, the 4th seed in group E. Later on that evening will be the lvl 5 league draw.