Coupe de France: “We knew that the light of the cup was going to go out,” says the Puy coach after the elimination

“We knew that at one point the light was going to go out,” confided Puy coach (National 2, 4th div.), Stéphane Dief after the elimination of his team by Rennes (3-1) , Thursday at the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium in Saint-Étienne, in the quarter-finals of the Coupe de France.

“I don't want to prejudge what will happen in the next few weeks but we tried to prepare the boys for this, that the lights were going to go out at some point, that we were going to fall back into our daily lives. And our daily life, we have nothing to complain about, it’s quite nice in Le Puy. It’s the rest of the season to take up the challenge of the championship,” Dief commented at a press conference.

“We have actually been preparing for the rest of the season for months, saying to ourselves that we had to lead both competitions at the same time. We only play once a week and not every three days. Playing once a week is possible for any athlete who trains every day like our boys,” continued the Ponot technician.

“We have managed until now not to favor the flashy and glittering side of the Coupe de France to the detriment of the useful side of our championship. It’s a message that got through the players’ heads but we’ll see. Human nature is sometimes more complex than that,” he added.

Le Puy, 2nd in its group in N2, relegated from National (3rd div.) last spring, lost to Rennes at the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium in front of 31,414 spectators while it usually only plays in front of a few hundred people at home for its championship matches.