Patrick Vieira’s Nice team lost its season opener at Caen. (FrontRowSoccer.com Photo)

Patrick Vieira’s debut as Nice head coach did not go as expected.

Nice fell to Stade de Reims, which recorded a 1-0 win at Allianz Riveria in the French Ligue 1 opener Saturday.

Moussa Doumbia scored the lone goal of the match in the second minute, beating goalkeeper Yoan Cardinale to the right side.

Caen managed to make sure that goal stood up.

Vieira left the head coaching position at New York City FC to succeed Lucien Favre as coach. Manchester City assistant coach Domenec Torrent replaced Vieira at NYCFC.

After winning the Ligue 2 crown last year, Reims made an encouraging start to its latest challenge and season.

One thing was certain for Vieira. Nice has lost its opening game six times in the last eight seasons, with the exceptions being wins against Toulouse FC (2014) and Stade Rennais FC (2016).

Nice will play at SM Caen next weekend.

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.