The Monaco Monitor

AS Monaco, the Principality’s national football team is creeping back up the French Ligue 1 (Premier League) championship under new coach Laurent Banide, having reached rock bottom position at 20 earlier on this season. AS Monaco thrashed Sochaux 3-0 at the weekend in the Stade Louis II and are now positioned at 14, eight points behind Olympique Marseille, three points ahead of arch rivals Nice and one in front of Paris SG. Sochaux is in 5th, a full 11 points ahead of Monaco, so victory was sweet for the red and white brigade. It is a near miraculous recovery for the club, since the departure of Rumanian coach Laszlo Bölöni at the end of October 2006. Bölöni had been taken on at the start of the season following the less-than-successful tenure of Italian Francesco Guidolin who joined over a year ago following the resignation of Didier Deschamps in September 2005.
Laurent Banide, 38, is French and has a diploma in professional coaching (DEPF - diplôme d’entraîneur professionnel). He was one of the two assistant coaches before being propelled into this role, his first crack at managing a professional team. His main goal is to keep the team in the premier league and avoid relegation.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 21st, 2006 at 4:29 am and is filed under Sports Events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.