a click for the rest of the season?
This Monday, December 26, Dijon Football Côte-d’Or won five goals to nil against Stade Lavallois in the Ligue 2 championship. A superb performance for the Burgundians, enough to hope for a crazy second half of the season ?
At last. After four months without a win, the DFCO is back to winning ways. And how: with a slap offered to Stade Lavallois. A real breath of fresh air after a failed first part of the season, finishing in 17th place before the championship was interrupted to make way for the World Cup. Beyond the offensive festival, the owl club has mastered its subject. What hope for a spectacular rise in the rankings?
On December 3, the players and the staff fly away for a week of training in Faro, Portugal. Dijon is in the hard with ten games without a win. The solution? Work and humility for the Senegalese coach. “We had to take refuge in work after this first complicated part. We did a lot of video sessions to erase our mistakes and see our areas for improvement. Talent is not enough, you have to work hard”, confirms Omar Daf. On the program, two daily workouts intensify with physical but also placement.
The DFCO will even finish this winter preparation with a friendly match against FC Nantes, a Ligue 1 team. A stadium that ends well since the Dijonnais win one but to zero. “It validates our work for a week. We know what we are capable of. When we defend and when we attack as a team, it is very difficult to maneuver ourselves”, assures Captain Daniel Congré. A promising preparation, and a good omen for the rest of the season.
Before this victory, the statistics of the Burgundian club were certainly disappointing, but the content was far from bad. Before the truce, Dijon failed to win twice against Guingamp and Grenoble, two contenders for the climb. But the Dijonnais have, as often this season, not materialized their opportunities. With 12 goals in 15 games, the DFCO is the worst attack in the championship.
Efficiency, a sector that is sorely lacking at the DFCO this season and against Stade Lavallois, the Dijonnais have found the solution with five goals on six shots on target. “We had to regain accuracy and efficiency. I’m happy with the efficiency displayed, it’s important for the attackers’ confidence. We worked on that a lot during the break”says Omar Daf.
We have the qualities to beat any team in this championship.
Omar DafDFCO Coach
DFCO player Valentin Jacob is relieved at the performance of his teammates. “It was expected, we played very well in the first half and we did badly in our situations. We are starting again with a new championship. When we play high enough on the pitch, it works very well. We have less alleged when we attacked. We saw that we hurt on a quick attack.”
What if he was the key to a successful second half of the season? Arriving this summer with the nugget label, Xande Silva is struggling to confirm the hopes placed in him. The 25-year-old Portuguese had yet managed his debut with two goals and two assists in four games. But behind, everything collapses. Physical glitches, a red card against Niort, latecomers to training which force the coach to remove him from the group … Like Dijon, Xande Silva missed his first part of the season.
Against Laval, he shone with a but but especially in the game. His trainer Omar Daf does not doubt his qualities. “He’s a talented player, he has this ability to change the course of a match. We did everything we could to put him on a better physical level and that he was ready to make a difference in the last game. of the game because we know it’s the hardest.”
His teammate Daniel Congré is also aware of the talent of the young Portuguese. “He’s an artist and artists are complicated to manage, he can be extraordinary as he can miss a match. He can bring us a lot more on the pitch and he must do it by his quality. He doesn’t has never been in top physical shape, the winter preparation has been good so I’m sure this second part is going to be good”he assures.
After this great victory, Dijon can still hope to stay in the race for the climb. Despite their 16th place, the Burgundians are only ten points from the podium. If Omar Daf’s men regain their efficiency from the start of the season, then anything is possible for the DFCO.