Football: Airtel Cup-St Louis Suns United, Anse Réunion in tomorrow’s final |18 May 2007
St Michel were slightly slow out of the blocks and this gave St Louis Suns United the impetus to have a go at them. St Louis Suns United’s captain Denis Barbé went close in the fifth minute with a free-kick.
St Michel responded with a free-kick of their own in the 12th minute. Philip Zialor’s effort was well saved by St Louis Suns United’s goalie Eugene Valentin. In the 20th minute, Henny Dufresne’s quickly taken free-kick caught St Louis Suns United by surprise and Joel Barbé filtered a pass to James Bonne who forced a good save out of goalie Valentin.
But St Louis Suns United looked the more dangerous side and enjoyed plenty of possession. In the 22nd minute, Alpha Baldé, who still played despite suffering from fever, looked offside and as he bore on goal, he was brought down by Lorenzo Mathiot. Referee Jourdan Benstrong sent off the St Michel defender.
St Louis Suns United then made their one-player advantage count as they opened up St Michel’s defence. In the 33rd minute, Jones Joubert latched on to a hopeful ball to out-sprint Joel Barbé but shot wide.
Four minutes later, Joubert made amends for his early miss, superbly firing the ball past St Michel’s goalie Nelson Sopha for a 1-0 lead.
In the 41st minute, Joubert should have doubled his team’s advantage as a brilliant cross-field pass by captain Denis Barbé set him clear of the defence, but one-on-one with ‘keeper Sopha, he blazed his shot wide.
St Louis Suns United kept up the pressure with Baldé at the heart of their best moves. In the 44th minute, Baldé filtered a superb ball to Yannick Charlette who looked odds on to score but was denied by goalie Sopha with a great block.
St Louis Suns United took off the tiring Baldé early in the second half and this hindered their attack, helping St Michel to threaten them.
In the 55th minute, Malagasy Pascal, who had been kept quiet in the first half, broke to life and thought he should have had a penalty as he was tackled by Jude Marie but referee Benstrong was not convinced.
St Michel re-shuffled their line-up as Denis Belle was brought in to stabilise the defence. As St Michel pushed forward, they almost got caught in the 61st minute when substitute Mervin Mathiot latched on to a through-ball but shot narrowly wide.
At the other end in a swift attack, Zialor, who had a poor game, managed to conjure up a gilt-edged opportunity for first half substitute Jeffrey Brutus who placed his shot agonisingly wide.
In the 69th minute, St Michel levelled matters as Pascal found space on the right to drive a fierce cross across the face of goal and Achille Henriette inadvertently shot the ball into his own net to make it 1-1.
The goal revived St Louis Suns United who almost got back the lead in the 75th minute as Denis Barbé set up substitute Robert Suzette whose shot was charged down.
Henriette though buried his disappointment of the own goal as he combined with Joubert in the 83rd minute to chip the advancing goalie Sopha to bring the score to 2-1.
St Michel threw everything in attack to send the game into extra-time and in the 88th minute, Brutus flashed a ball across goal but there was no one to convert.
St Louis Suns United had chances to kill off the contest in the dying minutes, especially the impressive Trevor Poiret who cut inside Joel Barbé but saw his raking shot roll inches away from goalie Sopha’s far post.
“St Louis Suns United were more hungry for the win and they put us under a lot of pressure and in the end they deserved their victory,” St Michel manager Brian Uranie told Sports Nation.
For his part, St Louis Suns’ coach Marc Mathiot congratulated his players for a good overall performance.
“Our objective was to win and overall we were the better team and fully deserved our triumph,” revealed an ecstatic Mathiot.
Meanwhile, the St Louis Suns United management is calling on all their supporters to behave themselves in tomorrow’s final just like they did on Wednesday.
Yelvanny Rose’s hat-trick
On La Digue, Yelvanny Rose netted a hat-trick in Anse Réunion’s 3-1 win against La Passe.
The bulky striker gave coach Vojo Gardasevic’s team a 1-0 half-time lead and doubled the score in the second period before Malagasy Jean Donne reduced the deficit for La Passe.
Speaking to Sports Nation, Anse Réunion’s coach Vojo said:
“They (La Passe) did not have any chance against us and they were lucky not to concede at least six goals. My team played well. For the final, I didn’t expect to meet St Louis Suns United. I thought St Michel would beat them. St Louis Suns United play good technical football and I’m calling on all our supporters to come to Stad Linite to back us in the final.”
R. J-L.