Football: SFF Cup semifinal draw - St Louis to meet Glacis, The Lions travel to Anse Reunion |26 October 2017

St Louis have perhaps been handed the easier draw with Glacis as opponents, while Anse Reunion will welcome The Lions to La Digue in their match.

The draw for the semifinals of the Seychelles Football Federation (SFF) Cup took place on Tuesday at Stad Linite. The draw has put together two very enticing contests, with both matches scheduled to take place on Saturday November 4.

The first match, which will be played at 4.30pm at Stad Linite, will see league leaders and Airtel Cup losing finalists St Louis take on second division title hopefuls Glacis.

Aside from losing the Airtel Cup to Northern Dynamo, St Louis are in good form and they showed their intentions as they eliminated fierce rivals St Michel through a solitary goal by Elijah Tamboo and will hope to continue their quest for silverware with victory against last year’s third division winners Glacis.

Glacis, meanwhile, will be hoping to cause a shock and progress to the final after they registered a 1-0 win against Praslin outfit Etoile in their quarterfinal outing. Whatever the case, reaching this stage of the competition must surely go down as a success for the side, who are in only their second season since their creation.

The other semifinal will kick off at 3pm at the La Digue playing field where Anse Reunion will play host to The Lions.

Anse Reunion have won this tournament twice before (2002 and 2012) and will be hoping to lift the title for a third time this season, after a five-year barren spell.

La Digue-based Anse Reunion were led by veteran striker Yelvanny Rose in the quarterfinal against Red Star Defence Forces, with the former footballer of the year netting a hat-trick in his side’s 3-0 win.

Coach Ted Esther will be hoping that Rose can inspire his side to another win as they look to move closer to the title.

Their opponents, The Lions, have never won a major tournament and like Northern Dynamo have done this season, they will be hoping to upset the odds and claim their first major title win.

Coached by Gavin Jeanne, The Lions in fact defeated Airtel Cup champions Northern Dynamo in the quarterfinal, and one goal was enough to secure passage to this round. Of course, being drawn away will surely be tough for the team, but in football anything is possible.

The same can be said of Glacis and so the semifinals promise to be two very exciting encounters.

S. N.