Le Mans cry foul over Rennes defeat

French first division strugglers Le Mans announced on Tuesday that they are to appeal against the result of their 2-1 defeat at Rennes at the end of November.

The Loire region club, currently third-bottom in the French top flight, allege that Rennes’s Ghanaian international striker Asamoah Gyan was not eligible to play in the match, in which he scored the winning goal.

Gyan had pulled out of Ghana’s friendly match in Angola on November 18 but FIFA rules state that a player who has not been able to play for his national side cannot play for his club for a period of five days.

“Numerous reports raising serious doubts about Asamoah Gyan’s eligibility for the Rennes-Le Mans match on November 21, 2009 have been brought to the awareness of Le Mans in recent days,” read a statement on the Le Mans website.

“In light of this information, Le Mans have decided to make an appeal to the Competition Commission in order to declare the result of the match void.

“By doing so, the club hopes to preserve its interests pending a final decision from the Professional Football League.”

Rennes coach Frederic Antonetti was dismissive of Le Mans’ appeal.

“I advise Le Mans to win matches on the pitch. That’s how you earn points,” he said.

“It’s a problem between Ghana and the player, we have nothing to do with it. I’ve never been a stickler for anything, except cheating. But there was no cheating, he’s one of our players.”

Gyan joined Rennes from Italian side Udinese in July 2008. He represented his country at the 2006 World Cup and played in four matches of their successful qualification campaign for the 2010 tournament.