Beach soccer: Curtain-raiser cup |13 March 2017

Five-goal man Baldé wins it for One Stone

Defending knockout champions One Stone beat 2016 league winners MLUH 6-5 in extra-time in an exciting match to win the 2017 beach soccer curtain-raiser cup.

Scoring five goals, player coach Alpha Baldé was the hero after 38 minutes 54seconds for One Stone as he curled in an amazing shot that flew over MLUH goalkeeper Travis Julienne and into the net to the amazement of the crowd with only 6 seconds left on the clock.

The match was played on Saturday afternoon at the Cable & Wireless Arena, Roche Caïman.

After both teams had created few chances to score, it was MLUH who had the upper-hand as they led 1-0 in the final seconds of the first 12-minute period. MLUH’s Aubrey Benoit retrieved a defensive ball and upon seeing One Stone goalkeeper Damien Adela way off his line, he intelligently lobbed the ball into the net.

In the second period, One Stone drew level at 1-1 through Gino Coopoosamy with a low shot in the 14th minute, only for MLUH to retake the lead at 2-1 seconds later as captain Clifford Agathine scored from a long range shot from the centre line.

It was at that moment that player/coach Alpha Baldé, who announced his retirement from the game at the end the last season, decided to make his entry for One Stone. He quickly made his presence felt for after missing a clear chance he was awarded a penalty after being fouled by MLUH Christopher Calva in the 18th minute. Baldé’s fierce shot hit the underside of the crossbar and into the goal to level the score at 2-2.

MLUH retook the lead 3-2 again after Hansel Coeur de Lion intercepted a back pass played by Mike Balette to keeper Damien Adela. Baldé again leveled the score 3-3 for One Stone but his goal was quickly overshadowed seconds later as MLUH’s Coeur de Lion’s shot beat goalkeeper Adela to give his team a 4-3 lead at the end of 24 minutes of play.

Both teams pushed forward for more goals in the last period and it was MLUH who started well as they extended their lead to 5-3 through Coeur de Lion who shot the ball home after One Stone’s Errol Celeste failed to clear the ball in front of goal.

Baldé reduced the score to 4-5 and he later displayed his dribbling skills to beat Aubrey Benoit and goalkeeper Julienne to place the ball at the near post to level at 5-5 in the 32nd minute.

As none of the two teams could score again in the final four minutes of normal time, the game had to go to extra-time of three minutes.

The match could have gone either way and the supporters became more vocal in the stands.

As the game looked set to go to a penalty shootout to decide the winners, it was Baldé who saved the day for One Stone. He curved the ball from near the centre line past goalkeeper Julienne and into the net to the amazement of the crowd and his cheering supporters.

One Stone won the 2017 curtain-raiser cup on a 6-5 score and it was Seychelles Football Federation executive committee member Philip Sinon who presented the cups.

One Stone manager Roddy Rath said: “I am very satisfied with my team’s performance although we started training a bit late and it was difficult for us to train properly as we have to share the training grounds with other sport teams.”

“I think we came out well considering playing with MLUH who were better prepared than us,” he added. Commenting on the return of Alpha Baldé, Rath said “he is still a key player for us and as we have not recruited new players for this season we had a discussion on the issue within the management and we decided to approach Alpha for his help for at least this year. He will not be playing in all the games but will act more as a coach for One Stone. I think One Stone will do well this season and Alpha is still a major element in beach football here.”

As for MLUH coach Steve Hertel, he was not satisfied with the level of officiating which he said cost them the game.

“I want to congratulate my players because we are the winners. Everybody present has seen it. I don’t understand why the federation keeps having incompetent officials to handle such matches and for me we are the winners of that game,” said a disappointed coach Hertel.

P. J.