Beach Soccer: CWS Cup One Stone claim title . Alpha Baldé retires |07 December 2016
There were bittersweet celebrations on Saturday night for One Stone as they managed to claim the Cable & Wireless Seychelles (CWS) Cup at the CWS Arena, while also saying goodbye to their captain and arguably best player Alpha Baldé who has announced his retirement from football.
The final itself was important for both teams as One Stone, who had relinquished the league title to MLUH, wanted to finish the season on a high, while Real Maldives, who have had a bad season by their standards, wanted a win to boost their confidence and provide a platform to build on next year.
It was in fact One Stone who started the game the brightest, opening the score after only 48 seconds in the match through Robin Mathiot’s free-kick just outside the penalty area.
Real Maldives were soon level though when Ronny Suzette saw his strong shot hit the underside of the bar before crossing the line with 8:53 minutes remaining. The first period carried on with both sides creating chances, but it was One Stone who went back in front with 4:49 minutes remaining, with Jean-Paul Marguerite’s low shot taking a wicked deflection off the sand to completely baffle Real Maldives goalkeeper Marcus Madeleine.
The teams went into the break with One Stone leading 2-1 and after the short rest, Real Maldives equalised straight from the kick-off, with Marcus Uranie’s volley finding refuge in the back of the net.
One Stone then began to take control of matters and went back in front after 2:41 played in the second third of the game, with Mathiot gabbing his second goal with a driven shot across goal. They were leading 3-2 with 5:44 minutes left when Marguerite also scored his second goal of the game, his shot once again took a deflection off the sand to sail over the goalkeeper (4-2). Maldives had an opportunity to reduce the arrears, but Ryan Bastienne failed to convert a penalty to send the teams into the third and final period of the game with One Stone leading 4-2.
In the third period, Baldé finally scored his last goal for the club with a good shot to put his team 5-2 up, before Jason Fred added a sixth goal (6-2) with a strong low shot to send the One Stone fans into raptures as they celebrated, sensing that victory was within touching distance. Real Maldives did manage to pull one back though, with Ryan Bastienne gabbing the goal after some panic in the One Stone defence. One Stone held on though, to claim a 6-3 win and end the season on a great note.
Real Maldives coach Don Anacoura said he wanted his team to win in order to finish the season with some honour, but One Stone had a good game.
“Our main problem this year was that beach soccer has lost in popularity and so as we also have 11-a-side teams, most of our players have opted to move to those teams. This has helped to deplete our beach soccer side, but we will be recruiting ahead of next season, to hopefully be able to get back to our previous best,” added coach Anacoura.
Roddy Rath, One Stone’s coach, said: “We really wanted to win today for Alpha Baldé as we are not sure if he will still be with us next season and we dedicate this win to him.”
He added that next year their main focus will be to reclaim the league title, while as usual they will be taking every competition seriously.
Alpha Baldé’s retirement is surely sad news to many, especially as he has achieved almost legendary status in Seychelles football. He is best remembered for his time with Sunshine, while his striking partnership with another of Seychelles’ great footballers, Phillip Zialor, perhaps remains one of the most deadly attacking duos to date.
“I look back proudly at my time in football as it was a great experience and today I have decided to leave football for good and concentrate on other things,” said Baldé.
He added: “To the youngsters out there, I want them to know that with hard work you can achieve anything and for those who find it tough playing 11-a-side football, why not try beach soccer?”
S. N.
