A team from the tiny Caribbean island of Martinique were thrashed 12-0 midway through making an 8,000-mile round trip to play Lille in the French Cup.
Golden Lion were among the teams from France’s overseas territories to enter the competition and were given a dream draw against the Ligue 1 outfit in the round of 64.
They began their journey on Wednesday for Saturday’s game with a eight-hour direct flight to Paris.
Golden Lion were aiming to continue their unlikely run in the cup at the home of the French champions following victories over Samaritaine and Troyenne.
But those lofty aspirations were quickly dispelled when Yusuf Yazici opened the scoring in the 11th minute before Paulo Fonseca‘s side raced into a 7-0 lead before the break.
Jonathan David (left) celebrates with his teammates after their third goal at the Pierre-Mauroy
Lion stopper Gilles Meslien was peppered with 22 shots on his goal during the thrashing on Saturday
Canada striker Jonathan David grabbed a brace, Yazici helped himself to another and Edon Zhegrova scored a hat-trick in the first 45 minutes.
If Golden Lion believed their hosts would be go easy on them in the second-half they were sorely mistaken.
David completed his treble, Hakon Arnar Haraldsson bagged a brace and Amine Messoussa and Tiago Santos also got on the scoresheet in the rout.
Lille, who are fifth in Ligue 1, had 36 shots on goal in the game compared to their visitors’ one.
Twenty-two of the home side’s attempts tested a very busy Golden Lion stopper Gilles Meslien.
More than 7,000 clubs enter the French Cup, open to teams from the country as well as overseas territories in regions including the Caribbean, the Pacific and Indian Ocean.
A total of 11 overseas sides made the main draw of this season’s competition: Two from French Guiana, Reunion, Guadeloupe and Martinique and one from Mayotte, Tahiti and New Caledonia.
New Caledonia is the furthest from Paris as the Pacific island is more than 10,000 miles away from the French capital, with a flight time of over 21 hours.
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