Football: Total Caf Confederation Cup - Al Hilal El Obeid sneak past St Michel to progress |20 February 2017

Sudanese club Al Hilal El Obeid sneaked past local side St Michel 1-0 at Stad Linite on Saturday afternoon to progress to the next round of the Total Caf Confederation Cup on a 3-0 aggregate score over the two matches.

The two teams were greeted before the kick-off by Youth, Sports and Culture Minister Idith Alexander along with Seychelles Football Federation chairman Elvis Chetty in front of a decent crowd who had come in expectation to see St Michel overcome another continental opponent.

St Michel had to reshuffle their starting line-up minutes before kick-off as Trevor Poiret who suffered from dizziness had to forfeit his place in the team and Neil Confiance played in his position. They almost fell behind as early as the fifth minute after Yannick Manou, who otherwise had a impeccable match, cleared the ball as far as the Al Hilal El Obeid captain Amin Murtada who fired at goal and goalkeeper Alvin Michel took immediate action to push the ball into corner.

From the resulting corner taken by Gismalla Maaz Abdelraheem, the lanky Ahmed Nasr Eldin Omer glanced his free header narrowly wide.

St Michel should have done better two minutes later when Sudanese defender Alkhidir Omer failed to clear Neil Confiance’s through ball to Malagasy Jocelyn Fenosoa and the ball fell into the path of his colleague Hassan Aly but he drilled it over the crossbar from a good scoring position.

In the ninth minute, Hassan Abdelrahman galloped forward past St Michel skipper Alex Nibourette to flash a dangerous cross-cum-shot across the face of the St Michel goal.

The game then transcended into a cat and mouse game as the Sudanese retained possession forcing St Michel to chase the ball as well as drop deep instead of pressing high to put pressure on the ball.

Midway in this half though, Jocelyn pounced on a loose ball to run at the Al Hilal Obeid defence and was tripped to earn a free kick on the edge of the penalty area and Aly stepped up to bend the ball narrowly wide of the far post of goalkeeper Hamed Hafiz’ goal.

In the 37th minute, Jocelyn played a beautiful reverse pass into the path of Ghanaian Emmanuel Nuhey whose instinctive shot on the run sailed over crossbar as the first half ended goalless.

The Sudanese came out all guns blazing in the second period and in the 48th minute Abdelrahman went marauding in the opposition’s territory and his teasing cross was spilled by goalkeeper Michel and thankfully Manou was on hand to clear the danger from two lurking Al Hilal El Obeid players.

The debutants in this Caf club competition went ahead in this match in the 51st minute as they hassled for the ball in midfield and Eldin Omer won it to race at goal. He then laid the ball on a plate to Abdelraheem who coolly slotted it low into the far corner past goalkeeper Michel to make it 1-0.

St Michel’s coaching staff, including former Côte d’Or coach Ahmed Abdou in his first match with his new team and Roddy Victor, had to go to their bench. They sent on Kenner Nourrice and Andy Mougal in his second spell with the Anse Aux Pins-based team and later on Graham Cafrine made his home debut but they struggled to trouble the well-organised Sudanese side who retained and circulated the ball well to frustrate the local team.

St Michel’s best and only chance to salvage a draw in this match came on the stroke of full time from playmaker Aly’s long ball over the Sudanese defence to Leeroy Corallie but the Al Hilal El Obeid goalkeeper Hafiz rushed out to stop Corallie in his stride but his clearance fell to Jocelyn who could not plant the ball into a gaping goal.

St Michel therefore crashed out of this competition for the second year running at the first hurdle and were unable to achieve their target of at least a victory on home soil while the Sudanese progress to the next round.

What they said after the match:

St Michel manager Andrew Jean-Louis: “We started well in the first half as we showed good composure but as the match elapsed my players decided to drop deep in our half allowing our opponents to control the match when we should have pressed them. In the second half, we conceded a goal early due to a lapse in concentration but we continued to persevere as we went all out trying to level the score bringing in three substitutes which brought new energy in our attack and we played on a par with our opponents as they were not superior to my team but we failed to create enough scoring opportunities as we should have been more offensive.”

St Michel captain Alex Nibourette: “Overall it was not a very tough match but we were a bit nervous in the first half so we did not use the ball effectively as we had planned as we gave it away too often.  Then we conceded a goal due to some defensive errors early in the second half and we had to push for an equaliser but some of our players are not used to playing at this level and we also lacked movement up front though we were not dominated in this match and we surely could have done better.”

Al Hilal El Obeid coach Ibrahim Hussein: “I’m very happy with my players as they played with confidence and we kept possession of the ball to stop our opponents from causing us problems but we must respect the local side St Michel who tried hard although I must praise my team for containing them. I also wish to praise the local people for their very pleasant hospitality and we really were treated well in this beautiful country with its very friendly people.”

Al Hilal El Obeid captain Amin Murtada: “It was a difficult match despite the win as we had to work hard and keep our concentration and we also used our vast experience to achieve this result but our opponents played well and I would like to wish them well for the future.”

R. J-L.

Captions:

Action from the Saturday’s match between St Michel and Al Hilal El Obeid

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Published: 20-02-2017