Lyon's Juninho Pernambucano scored the only goal of the game against Sedan at the Gerland Stadium on Wednesday to set up a French Cup final against Paris Saint Germain at the Stade de France later this month.
Juninho found the net two minutes before time to keep the league leaders on course for a first-ever league and cup double should they beat Bordeaux to the league title then have a victory over PSG on May 24.
Lyon last won the French Cup way back in 1973.
PSG had beaten second-division Amiens by the same score in the other semi-final on Tuesday.
Lyon managed to win with a workmanlike, rather than an elegant, performance though they left it late when Juninho, who had replaced Kim Kallstrom after 70 minutes, scored from a long-range free-kick after a foul by Albert Baning.
Organized Sedan had chances through Alexis Allard in the first half, but both his shot and header were stopped by Lyon keeper Gregory Coupet, and he had another chance well into the second half.
Lyon had most of the goal opportunities however, through Mathieu Bodmer, Kader Keita, Fabio Grosso and Hatem Ben Arfa, though Sedan keeper Patrick Regnault held firm.
Juninho’s late goal meant Lyon qualified for their second final in two years after losing to Bordeaux 1-0 in the League Cup final.
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Coco Gauff’s dreams of a first women’s singles title in Melbourne were crushed in the quarter-finals by Paula Badosa. World No. 2 Alexander Zverev was ruffled by a stray feather in his men’s singles quarter-final, but he refocused to beat 12th seed Tommy Paul and reach the semi-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 in 2 hours, 20 minutes to advance the semi-finals. Hsieh and Ostapenko converted eight of 14 break
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