Football: Land Marine Cup semifinals-Côte d’Or and Anse Reunion book final places |15 November 2012

Côte d’Or v/s La Passe

Côte d’Or entertained La Passe at home at the Amitié Stadium in a 3pm kick-off and won 2-1.

La Passe were eager to avenge their Airtel Cup semi-final defeat to this same team, but the Airtel Cup champions proved to be a hard nut to crack as they continues their long unbeaten run this season which stems from June.

Côte d’Or’s star midfielder, Malagasy Jean Tigana, scored a gem of a goal in the first half to give his team a 1-0 lead.

Dean Suzette set Côte d’Or on their way to another final appearance when he made it 2-0 in the second half for his fifth goal in two matches.

La Passe’s Malagasy midfielder Valerie cut the deficit with an equally superb long range effort to make the final score 2-1.

Côte d’Or coach Ahmed Abdou told Sports Nation that his team played well especially in the first half when their game plan worked as they managed to halt La Passe.

Anse Reunion v/s St Francis

At Stad Linite on Mahe, St Francis were depleted by suspension to captain Ronny Monthy and Malagasy Malamo Ducaud, and they were also without midfielder Ryan Antat who is carrying a leg injury.

Anse Reunion therefore made the most of a slow beginning by their opponents as they got off to a flying start when the ball broke to young Nickerro Marie who rifled it past goalie Bertrand Morel for a 1-0 lead as early as the fourth minute.

Two minutes later, St Francis responded as Trevor Vidot collected a pass but shot narrowly wide.

In the 10th minute, Vidot again had a decent chance after goalkeeper-turned-defender Andrea Libanotis lofted a pass to Alexander Albert who laid it to him but he hurried his shot when he had ample time to hit the target.

Anse Reunion extended their lead in the 22nd minute after Norvil Gaspard skipped past Nicholas Atala to centre to Marie who drilled the ball home to complete his brace and give his team a 2-0 advantage.

On the half hour mark, Marie went close to complete his hat-trick but his shot was deflected into corner after Yelvanny Rose had headed the ball into his path from Gaspard’s deep cross.

Malagasy Hassan Ali floated the corner and there was Gaspard at the near post with a thumping header for a 3-0 score.

Anse Reunion almost added a fourth goal in the 43rd minute when Aly’s free-kick was half-cleared to defender Jude Anaou whose fierce drive crashed against the crossbar as St Francis rode their luck.

St Francis came out for the second half with all guns blazing and in the 47th minute, substitute Radley Monthy saw his beautifully worked free-kick ricocheted off the crossbar after Anse Reunion’s Malagasy captain Eddy had brought down his colleague Hery Randriamanana.

In the 50th minute, St Francis’ Hery had a decent chance but he shot straight at goalkeeper Ricky Rose.

Anse Reunion countered swiftly from goalkeeper Rose’s long goal-kick to his brother Yelvanny Rose whose flick set Marie in the clear but his control let him down when he should have scored to complete his hat-trick.

In the 57th minute as St Francis pushed forward they were caught at the back as Yelvanny Rose released Malagasy Hugo Sezou who looked suspiciously offside but was not given.  The Malagasy midfielder bore on goal and blasted the ball past goalkeeper Morel to make it 4-0.

Seconds later, St Francis gave the ball away and it was played forward to Marie who cut inside a defender and his low shot came off the foot of the post.

St Francis though threw caution to the wind and in the 67th minute Radley Monthy picked out Branli Zizi with a long ball and he rifled a strong shot which beat goalkeeper Rose at the near post for a 1-4 score.

Two minutes later, Branli Zizi missed the target with a point-blank header from another cross by Radley Monthy.

St Francis pushed forward as they put Anse Reunion under pressure. After soaking much of the pressure, Anse Reunion killed off the contest in injury time. It all started from substitute Jude Payet’s back-heel to Aly who linked up with Gaspard who spread the ball to Roderick Rose.

 The latter exploited space to shoot low into the far corner for a 5-1 final scoreline.

Anse Reunion coach Juel Ah-Kong told Sports Nation that the early goals helped his team settle in the match though his team slackened in the second period.

‘We want to be positive about the final as it is an opportunity to win some silverware. We know though that it is not going to be easy,” said Ah-Kong.

As for St Francis’ coach Marc Mathiot, he said his team were too complacent in the first half as they gave away some soft goals.

“We were poor in the first half but we improved in the second. But we missed too many chances as we could even have drawn level,” Mathiot said.

R. J-L.