Five in the First Half, a Season's Worth of Hope

The number that matters most is five. Five goals in the first half. Five reasons to believe that a season of drift can still end in something worth remembering. On Sunday afternoon, at the Stade du Moustoir, FC Lorient did not so much beat OGC Nice as dismantle them, piece by piece, until the scoreboard read 5-1 and the only question left was how many more they might have wanted.

Łukasz Warda, the Polish striker on loan from Oviedo, scored three of them. He had not started a league game for Lorient until recently, but here he was, in the third minute, turning in a shot from close range through the middle. A minute later, Philippe Andre headed in low near a post. Gustavo Salmerón added a third from outside the box, low and through the middle, before Warda struck again in the eleventh minute, a drive from close range at mid height. When he completed his hat-trick in the twenty-fourth minute, shooting from close range at mid height near a post, the game was already over. Nice pulled one back before half-time through Bryan Fonteneau's penalty, but the afternoon belonged to Lorient.

It belonged, too, to Roberto Turmo, the Spanish midfielder on loan from Levante. He did not score, but he was everywhere, threading passes, coming deep, playing one-twos, and running the game with an authority that made a mockery of his modest record. The match ratings gave him a perfect ten; the crowd gave him an ovation. Turmo is twenty-four and has never played for his country, but on this evidence he will not be overlooked forever. Lorient are eleventh now, with twenty-nine points, five behind the European places. They have won only eight of their twenty-three games, and they have lost ten. But on Sunday they looked like a side that could beat anyone.

On Monday, at the Stade de la Beaujoire, FC Nantes kept the pressure on Lyon with a 3-0 win over RC Strasbourg Alsace. The scoreline was comfortable, but the game was not. Strasbourg, bottom of the table and fighting for their lives, held out for a quarter of an hour before Abdallah Falah scored with a high shot. Eduardo Teixeira, the Brazilian defensive midfielder, added a second in the thirty-seventh minute, a low shot that found the net, and then a third in the eighty-eighth, a shot with the foot that flew high. Teixeira was the player of the match, with two goals and a pass completion rate that would make a philosopher weep. Nantes are second, one point behind Lyon, and they have now won fifteen of their twenty-three games. Strasbourg are seventeenth, with fifteen points, and the red card shown to Sami Dumas in the fifty-seventh minute did not help their cause.

On Monday night, at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy, Olympique Lyonnais went to Lille and returned with a 2-0 win that kept them at the top of the table. The goals came in the second half: Julio Barone scored from close range in the forty-seventh minute, and Franck Ekwalla added a penalty in the fifty-ninth. Javi, the Spanish midfielder, was the player of the match, pulling the strings in a game that Lille never quite controlled. Lyon have now won sixteen of their twenty-three games, and they have a goal difference of plus thirty-six. They are the champions, and they are playing like it.

But the most dramatic game of the round, and perhaps of the season, came at the Stade de la Mosson, where Montpellier Hérault SC came from behind to beat Paris Saint-Germain 3-2. Clément Gerber, the PSG midfielder, scored in the fourth minute with a header from close range, and for a while it looked as though the Parisians would run away with it. But Montpellier, seventh in the table and fighting for a European place, responded with two goals before half-time: Frédéric Cheze scored in the twenty-second minute with a low shot, and Menachem Zikri added a third in the forty-fifth minute, a shot from outside the box that rolled along the ground and in near a post. Michele Guida equalised for PSG in first-half stoppage time, but Montpellier would not be denied. Ahcene Hammouche, the eighteen-year-old striker, came off the bench to score the winner in the eighty-first minute, a header from close range that flew in near a post. It was his first league goal for the club, and it was enough. PSG finished with ten men after Rabie Kebbabi was sent off in the seventieth minute, and they now sit sixth, level on points with Sochaux but behind on goal difference. Montpellier are seventh, one point behind PSG.

Elsewhere, the round was quiet. RC Lens won 2-0 at Stade Malherbe Caen, with Yoshizumi Kanoshima scoring in the fourteenth minute and Birame Faye adding a second in the eighty-second. FC Sochaux-Montbéliard beat Dijon FCO 1-0, Mathieu Atangana scoring the only goal in the tenth minute, but they finished with ten men after Brian was sent off in the forty-third. FC Girondins de Bordeaux lost 0-1 at home to Stade Rennais FC, and Nîmes Olympique lost 0-1 at home to Olympique de Marseille. ESTAC Troyes lost 0-1 at home to AS Monaco, a result that lifted Monaco from thirteenth to tenth.

The table is beginning to take shape. Lyon lead with fifty-one points, Nantes are second with fifty, and Nice, despite their humiliation, remain third with forty-three. Marseille are fourth with forty-one, and Sochaux fifth with thirty-eight. At the bottom, Troyes are sixteenth with nineteen points, Strasbourg seventeenth with fifteen, and Dijon eighteenth with eleven. The relegation zone is the bottom two, and the team in sixteenth will face a play-off. Strasbourg have now lost sixteen of their twenty-three games, and Dijon have won only two. The next few weeks will decide who survives.

For Lorient, the win over Nice was a reminder of what this team can do when everything clicks. The loan system is a strange thing, a market of borrowed talent, but sometimes it works. Lorient have borrowed two players who, on Sunday, played like they belonged. The challenge now is to do it again.