Football: Airtel Cup - St Michel, St Louis, Anse Reunion, La Passe qualify for semifinals |29 August 2016
. Corallie nets five for St Michel against Bosco
Teams from Mahé – St Michel and St Louis – as well as La Digue – La Passe and Anse Reunion – are the semifinalists of this year’s Airtel Cup competition.
St Michel’s Leeroy Corallie single-handedly dismantled St John Bosco on Friday as he scored all of his team’s goals in a 5-1 romping as they top the Mahé group.
St Louis secured a place in the semifinal with a hard-earned 3-2 victory over Northern Dynamo on Saturday at Stad Linite, while on the same day on La Digue, La Passe beat Revengers 2-1 and on Friday Anse Reunion stunned LightStars 2-1.
St Louis resist Dynamo challenge
St Louis bounced back from their midweek defeat to St Michel to gun down Northern Dynamo 4-2 in an enthralling match to book their place in the semifinal as the Mahé group runners-up behind St Michel.
St Louis had to win this final match or else Dynamo would progress at their expense on goal difference and therefore they took the game to their opponents boosted by the return of their Nigerian striker Kazeem Adeyeri from trials in Cyprus.
However, Dynamo had the first clear chance when they hit the crossbar in the 13th minute from Daniel Maillet’s free kick before Marcus Maria shot the loose ball straight at Malagasy goalkeeper Michel.
In the 22nd minute, Aldo Dufresne sprinted past Jean-Paul Aglaé to centre in the box to Malagasy Rajamana who failed to connect properly to an open chance and goalkeeper Michel plucked the ball from his feet.
St Louis broke the stalemate in the 24th minute from a poor back pass from Kevin Estico which Adeyeri pounced on to rifle into the net past Cameroonian goalkeeper Franck Moutoni for a 1-0 lead.
Four minutes later, St Louis’ Malagasy midfielder Tahiry saw his curling corner kick graze the crossbar before it flew out of play.
St Louis were unlucky not to add a second goal in the 37th minute from Aglaé’s superb through ball to Adeyeri who hit the ball instinctively on the volley but it brought a fine tip-over save out of goalkeeper Moutoni to deny the striker a second goal before half-time.
Dynamo were gifted an equaliser seven minutes into the second period when St Louis’ Travis Laurence recklessly brought down Rajamana for a clear penalty and the Malagasy midfielder got up to send goalkeeper Michel the wrong way for a 1-1 score.
This was the start of a series of penalties in this match as this encounter swung back and forth in a nail-biting half.
In the 64th minute, Tahiry weaved his way past two defenders to cross to Elijah Tamboo whose attempted diving header was punched out by goalkeeper Moutoni but the ball was not well cleared as Adeyeri centred to Collin Bibi whose shot came off the arm of Maillet and St Louis appealed for a penalty which referee Nelson Emile duly obliged as he pointed to the spot.
Adeyeri though was too casual in taking the spot kick allowing goalkeeper Moutoni to turn away his shot but Dynamo though still failed to clear the danger. A minute later, Adeyeri went on a mazy run and was fouled by Joshua Adeline in the penalty area for another penalty awarded by referee Emile and this time Tahiry took the spot kick and he tucked it home past goalkeeper Moutoni to restore St Louis’ 2-1 advantage.
Amazingly there was to be a fourth penalty in this match in the 68th minute at the other end as Jude Nancy hooked the ball away from danger but goalkeeper Michel who had rushed out of his goal clattered into Maillet and referee Emile had no qualms to blow for another penalty.
Rajamana stepped up to score a carbon copy spot kick to his first one to put these two teams level at 2-2.
St Louis though must be commended as they kept going forward and were rewarded in the 73rd minute from Tahiry’s free kick at the far post to Tamboo who headed across goal and there was Carlos Simeon to slot the ball into the net from close range to make it 3-2 much to the delight of his fans.
Dynamo then tried to redress the balance as they knew a draw would see them progress to the semis and in the 85th minute as St Louis defended with all their might, Maria saw his dipping free kick pushed away by goalkeeper Michel into corner.
As Dynamo threw players forward, St Louis caught them in the first minute of added time as substitute Henny Dufresne countered in a three-on-two situation and the experienced midfielder picked the right pass to Adeyeri who cut inside a defender to drill the ball low past goalkeeper Moutoni to make it 4-2 as he grabbed his brace to lead St Louis to the semifinal of the Airtel Cup where they will face La Passe.
St Louis coach Nigel Freminot congratulated his players after the match for this gutsy performance to book a place in the semis.
“All credit goes to the players today as they played their hearts out to guarantee qualification and I must congratulate them though I also feel we deserve to progress based on our performance in the group matches,” the St Louis coach told Sports Nation.
As for the Dynamo captain Warren Mellie, he felt his players did not put in enough effort to win this match.
“It was a tough match but my teammates were not well prepared for this game but I’m also a bit disappointed with some of the penalties awarded against us though I think our opponents played well and deserved to win,” claimed the Dynamo captain.
Labiche double leads La Passe to semis
Marcus Labiche scored two second half goals to lead defending Airtel Cup champions La Passe to the semifinal of this competition on Saturday at the La Digue playing field.
After a goalless first half against Revengers, Labiche bagged two goals to bring his tally to four in two matches.
Cliff Cesar scored an injury time goal for Revengers who had to win to secure qualification.
Anse Reunion stun LightStars
Anse Reunion stunned LightStars in a 2-1 win on Friday at the Amitié stadium to finish as runners-up in their group and will now meet St Michel in the semifinal.
Malagasy Estel Randrina gave Anse Reunion a 1-0 lead but LightStars’ Andy Brioche leveled the score at 1-1 before half-time.
Perry Monnaie scored the winner for the La Digue side to help coach Ted Esther’s team to the semifinal against a LightStars team who may have run out of steam after being in action two days earlier against La Passe who had thrashed them 7-1.
Corallie nets five as St Michel beat Bosco
St Michel’s Leeroy Corallie single-handedly dismantled St John Bosco on Friday as he scored all of his team’s goals in a 5-1 romping as they top the Mahé group.
Corallie began his amazing goal scoring spree by opening the scoring in the 17th minute to make it 1-0 but Bosco levelled matters courtesy of a strike by former St Michel midfielder Leeroy Mathiot for a 1-1 score.
Corallie netted again to help St Michel regain their lead at 2-1 but Bosco should have equalised after they were awarded a penalty before half time for a foul by St Michel’s debutant goalkeeper Alvin Michel on Deroy Brutus. The former Plaisance goalkeeper though redeemed himself as he pushed away Terry Lesperance’s spot kick and the rebound fell to Mathiot but his shot came off the post as St Michel rode their luck.
Corallie completed his hat-trick in the 68th minute as he latched onto a through ball and his shot bounced awkwardly in front of goalkeeper Duane Romain for a 3-1 score and six minutes later, he was at the end of a Gervais Waye-Hive cross to make it 4-1.
Corallie completed his individual exploits in the 81st minute after a strong run by Ghanaian Emmanuel Nuhey who combined with Waye-Hive to set him up for an easy tap-in for a final 5-1 victory.
Corallie’s incredible performance though was slightly tinted as he limped off before the final whistle with a slight muscle pull but he told Sports Nation that he was really happy with his achievement in this match after also scoring the only goal against St Louis in midweek.
“It is the most goals I have scored in a match and I’m very happy with my performance,” Corallie said.
R.J-L