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Football - La Passe gear for Indian Ocean challenge |29 September 2016

 

 

 

Last year’s Airtel Cup winners La Passe are gearing up for the 2016 Union of Indian Ocean Football Federations (l’UFFOI) tournament being held in Seychelles and Madagascar.

La Passe, who are representing Seychelles at the tournament, have been drawn in the same group with Jeunesse Sportive St Pierroise of Reunion Island and Mauritius’ side Cercle de Joachim. All matches of this group will take place here.

“Obviously we do not know much about our opponents. We are aware that St Pierroise are a very well respected club in the region and so we must watch the game between the two sides to be able to better approach our matches,” said La Passe coach Bruno Saindini.

La Passe were knocked out of this year’s Airtel Cup semifinal as recently as last week and they will be looking to bounce back with a good performance in this tournament which begins on Monday October 3 with a match between St Pierroise and Cercle de Joachim.

La Passe will play their first match on Wednesday October 5 against St Pierroise at Stad Amitié on Praslin.

“We haven’t done any special preparations as we have already been playing competitive matches. We want to put the Airtel Cup elimination behind us and produce a good performance in this tournament,” coach Bruno added.

Despite being a La Digue side, La Passe will be playing their two games on Praslin and coach Bruno has said although he would have liked to play on La Digue, his players are comfortable playing on Praslin and it is also closer for their supporters to travel for the two matches.

Their second match is against Cercle de Joachim on Saturday October 8.

Prior to taking part in the tournament, La Passe will face Côte d’Or this coming Saturday in an SFF league division one match and this will undoubtedly be a stern preparation for them, prompting coach Bruno to say that they need to be cautious in this encounter.

“We do not want to risk injuries in our game this weekend, so we will have to be careful who are the players who will play against Côte d’Or so that I can have my strongest team available for the tournament,” the Madagascar-born coach added.

Matches in the other group will take place in Madagascar. Teams from Comoros, Mayotte and Madagascar will vie for the top place. The winners of each group will then face off in a two-legged play-off to decide the winners of the tournament.

Reunion club US stage Tamponnaise won in the first l’Uffoi tournament final 2-1 in two meetings against CNAPS Sport Football Itasyof Madagascar in 2011.

The winners of the second tournament in 2012 were CNAPS Sport Football Itasy who defeated Saint-Pauloise of Reunion on a 4-2 aggregate score in the final. Côte d’Or of Seychelles played in the final in 2013 but lost 6-0 over the two legs against Malagasy side Tana Formation. 

CNAPS Sport Football Itasy won the 2014 title after victory on penalties (4-2) against US Saint-Marienne of Reunion in the final of the fourth l’Uffoi tournament. The score was tied at 2-2 (1-1 and 1-1) at the end of both matches.

The defending champions of the tournament are CNAPS Sport Football Itasy who have three wins to their name. Last year they defeated Saint Pauloise of Reunion 6-3 (1-1 and 5-2) on aggregate.

La Passe will be aiming to become the first Seychellois side to win the tournament after Côte d’Or’s failed attempt in 2013.

 

S. N.

 

 

 

 

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