Football: African club competitions - St Louis, Anse Reunion leave for away trip |06 February 2018

League and Cup winners St Louis and Cup losing finalists Anse Reunion leave for their away trip this afternoon to compete in the preliminary rounds of the Orange Caf club competitions.

St Louis will be taking part in the 22nd Caf Champions League where they have been drawn to play Tanzanian champions Young Africans on Saturday February 10 at the national stadium in Dar es Salaam.

Young Africans are one of the top east African clubs and are in full swing in their league where they are in third position after the first round of the league of 14 matches.

Therefore they pose a threat to our local champions St Louis who have had only two test matches, losing both to La Passe and Côte d’Or last weekend during their training camp on Praslin.

However, St Louis’ new head coach Michel Renaud feels his team will be ready for this big test in the Caf Champions League.

“We have had a very good pre-season so the players’ physical condition is quite OK. So we will give this away match our best as we aim for a positive result which we can build on for the home match which will help us qualify for the next round which is our target,” claimed coach Renaud who joined St Louis after the departure of coaches Nigel Freminot and Nigel Moustache.

Renaud, who is in his second stint as coach of this central Mahé team, though expects the Tanzanian side to be physically and technically good but still he is confident his protégés can match them.

“Normally African teams play very physically and our technical team have seen videos of our opponents and they play with pace but we will try to match them tactically to contain them and adapt to whatever they present to us,” coach Renaud said.

Coach Renaud added that his players are looking forward to this match where they want to give the best of themselves.

“The players are in buoyant mood and are ready to work hard for a decent result and we hope we can counter our opponents,” claimed coach Renaud.

St Louis though will dearly miss Nigerian striker Kazeem Adeyeri who is yet to return from his overseas leave but they have reinforced the squad for this season with the arrival of defenders Steve Henriette from Glacis and Mike Lesperance who was with Foresters.

Anse Reunion travel to Rwanda

Anse Reunion will clash with Armée Patriotique Rwandaise (APR) FC of Rwanda on Sunday February in what promises to be a tough encounter for the players of coach Ted Esther in the Caf Confederation Cup.

The La Digue outfit are currently benefitting with training from licence ‘A’ coach Ralph Jean-Louis, the former national team head coach who guided his former club St Michel to a number of wins in African club competitions.

Coach Esther had to seek help for this African club competition as he does not hold a licence ‘A’ coaching badge and he expressed his gratitude to coach Jean-Louis who accepted to help them for this two-legged tie.

“Our preparation started rather late as the players were not regular for training at first but they appear to be highly motivated as the match approaches. But we are aware that it is going to be tough after playing only two test matches. We also have some information about our opponents who appear to be a top class side. So we will try to get a positive result in this first leg,” explained coach Esther.

Anse Reunion though have failed in their bid to sign Ghanaian striker Emmanuel Ankrah from St John Bosco and will be without Jude Anaou and Adrian Constance for this trip but can count on their four foreign players, namely Malagasy defender Eddy, Tanzanian midfielder Rashid Gumbo Mohamed and the Ugandan pair of Ahmed Bulanga and Mohamed Bayerno.

Anse Reunion will be in action in Sunday in Rwanda against the players of coach Jimmy Mulisa who have five matches during this month of February and just lost in the Peace Cup final on Saturday and currently lie third in the Rwandan league.

Sports NATION wishes both our local sides all the best as they fly the national colours on the African continent.

The return legs for our two African qualifiers have been scheduled for February 21 and 22 in midweek.

R. J-L.