Football: Airtel Cup |28 August 2017

Red Star Defence Forces, St Louis, Anse Reunion reach semifinals

With wins over the weekend, Red Star Defence Forces, St Louis and Anse Reunion have joined Northern Dynamo in the semifinals of the Airtel Cup.

Red Star Defence Forces snuff out Côte d’Or

Red Star Defence Forces drew 0-0 at Stad Linite against Côte d’Or on Saturday to win this two-legged quarterfinal match-up on a 2-1 aggregate.

Côte d’Or had to push forward to redress the balance in this match but were lucky in the 21st minute when assistant referee Gilbert Lusta flagged for a bizarre offside from a misplaced header by Côte d’Or defender Gervais Saminaden to let in Malagasy Sydo Jean Alberto who was running clear on goal.

The league champions should have scored in the 32nd minute from some good work by Malagasy Voavy Faralahibe who had combined well with Collin Esther before crossing to Dine Suzette in the penalty box but he missed a clear goal.

Côte d’Or were denied a penalty in 43rd minute when Malagasy Jean Tigana’s deflected shot hit the post to wrong-foot goalkeeper Danny Larue and the rebound fell to Suzette who was bundled over by the Red Star Defence Forces custodian but referee Jean-Claude Labrosse turned a blind eye for a goalless first half.

Praslin side Côte d’Or had to attack to score at least twice to overturn the 1-2 game one loss and in the 51st minute, Voavy broke clear but his attempted lob was blocked by goalkeeper Larue who had raced out of his goal.

Red Star Defence Forces had a great chance to open the scoring in the 65th minute from Malagasy Sydo Jean Alberto’s cross to Jocelyn Fenosoa who played the ball to another colleague, Michel Nambintsoa who looked odds to score but he made a meal of his shot with the goal at his mercy.

Two minutes later, substitute Collin Francourt floated a cross to Jocelyn who flicked the ball into the path of Sydo who volleyed just wide of goalkeeper Neddy Lesperance’s goal.

Côte d’Or brought on their Nigerian striker Godwin Chika and he almost scored with his first touch in the 70th minute from Collin Esther’s lofted corner which goalkeeper Larue missed but the goal-bound header was cleared on the goal line by defender Michel Souris.

In the 72nd minute, Voavy picked out Suzette with a cross-field pass and he chest-trapped but shot wide from a good scoring position.

As Côte d’Or pushed forward, they were almost undone twice by Sydo but he failed to make the most of half chances. But it did not matter as they kept their opponents at bay to win and make it to their first ever semifinal to please their manager.

“We played very well to keep out our opponents as the players followed instructions given to them and we could even have scored. We are very happy to reach the semifinal,” Red Star Defence Forces manager Philip Barbé told Sports NATION.

As for Côte d’Or coach Nicolas Simouri, he felt his team were unlucky and felt they had lost this tie in their home defeat.

“We missed a few opportunities today and were unlucky but our defeat in the first leg cost us dearly as we could not recover,” said coach Simouri.

St Louis sneak past The Lions

St Louis sneaked past The Lions in a narrow 1-0 victory at Stad Linite on Friday evening to win 2-1 on aggregate to reach the semifinal.

This second leg tie was evenly poised at 1-1 though the onus was on St Louis to go on the offensive as they had drawn the home fixture and a scoreless draw would see their opponents qualify for the semifinal.

Therefore St Louis, who had made a couple of changes to the team who had beaten Côte d’Or the previous weekend in the league, carried the game to their rugged opponents who packed their defence and made it difficult to penetrate while relying on the counter.

But The Lions suffered a major setback when they lost their pacy striker namely, Darrel Damou to injury and he had to be transported to hospital after clashing with St Louis’ Malagasy goalkeeper Michel in the 10th minute and was replaced by Churchill Rose.

St Louis huffed and puffed with plenty of the ball but almost got caught in the 25th minute from a glorious cross-field pass from Liberian Mohamed Varney to Malagasy Estel Randrina who raced clear but shot in the side netting for a goalless first half.

The second half saw more goalmouth actions and Churchill Rose should have opened his account with The Lions in the 48th minute when he burst through to hold off defender Damien Maria’s challenge but he rifled his shot wide.

A minute later, Randrina made space to let fly a cracking long range effort which the St Louis goal stopper had to tip over the crossbar into corner.

St Louis responded by sending on Elijah Tamboo and Gervais Waye-Hive to add punch to their attacking play but it was The Lions who went closest in the 66th minute from a superb ball from Varney across the face of the St Louis goal but Randrina was not alert enough to connect.

In the 78th minute, Tamboo picked up a ball from midfield and breezed past a couple of defenders before he cut inside defender Andrew Onezia and fired at The Lions’ goalkeeper and captain Jerome Dingwall who pushed out the ball which Nigerian Kazeem Adeyeri collected and fashioned a shot at goal which was turned into corner.

Waye-Hive curled in the ball at the near post and goalkeeper Dingwall flapped at the ball as he was unsighted by a defender  and there was St Louis substitute Henny Dufresne to head home the loose ball for his first goal this season to make it 1-0.

The Lions suddenly had to alter their tactics after trying to wind down the clock in the latter stages of this match but now opted for three in attack as Malagasy Lanto came on for defender Clariel alongside Varney and Randrina, but St Louis defended stoutly to squeeze a result to help them reach the semifinal to please coach Nigel Freminot.

“We had to work hard for this result as we did not play well in the first half though we had a lot of the ball but it was vital to win and we managed to score and get through to the semifinal which was our aim,” coach Freminot said.

For his part, The Lions coach Gavin Jeanne was disappointed his team had allowed qualification to the semis slip from their grasp with a lapse in concentration late in the match.

“We were undone by a lack of concentration to gift our opponents a soft goal as a result of an individual error in this match where we had created the best scoring opportunities and had put in a good performance,” The Lions coach told Sports NATION. 

Anse Reunion dump LightStars in a penalty shootout

La Digue side Anse Reunion dumped LightStars 9-8 in a penalty shootout at Stad Amitié on Saturday afternoon after the two-legged match stood at a 2-2 stalemate.

The first match had finished on a 1-1 draw and LightStars made it 1-0 in the first half in this second leg courtesy of a penalty by Albert Rose.

Anse Reunion’s Tanzanian midfielder Rashid Mohamed levelled the score in the second period to make it 1-1 to send this match into extra-time and a penalty shootout which the players of coach Ted Esther won 9-8 to move to the semifinal.

R. J-L