Football: Intelvision Cup - St Michel seal St Louis Suns’ fate in penalty shootout |06 November 2014

. La Passe knock out 10-man Anse Reunion

Defending Intelvision Cup champions St Michel sealed St Louis Suns’ fate to reach the quarterfinals in a dramatic penalty shootout which ended 5-4 after a goalless 120 minutes of football at Stad Linite on Tuesday. On the same day on La Digue, La Passe easily disposed of 10-man Anse Reunion 6-1.

St Michel edge St Louis Suns on penalties

This was a passionate match in front of an intrigued crowd who witnessed a fiercely contested cup match where St Louis Suns went mightily close to send cup holders St Michel out of the competition at the first time of asking on Tuesday.

St Louis Suns played with more conviction and carried the game to their opponents in the first half and as early as the fourth minute, Elijah Tamboo cut inside his markers to shoot at goalkeeper Gino Melanie who saved easily.

In the 12th minute, St Louis Suns’ Nigerian pair of Belarinwa Oladele Olamiti and Kazeem Adeyeri combined but the latter allowed the ball to roll away from him into goalkeeper Melanie’s grateful arms when he was in the clear.

St Louis Suns should have opened the scoring a minute later after a good run by Adeyeri to elude defender Jones Larue who started in place of Malagasy Jimmy Radafison. Adeyeri then pulled the ball back to Roddy Melanie who fired at goal but defender Yannick Manou cleared his shot on the goalline.

St Michel, sensing danger, slowly came into the match and Nelson Laurence went close in succession with his glancing headers from Malagasy Hassan Aly’s corners.

In the 38th minute, St Michel were awarded a clear penalty after former St Michel midfielder Henny Dufresne scythed down Leeroy Corallie in full flight in the penalty area and referee Kieren Yocette, who had a good game with his two colleagues James Emile and Gilbert Lusta, did not hesitate to point to the penalty spot.

Captain Alex Nibourette stepped up but saw his strong shot crash against the post with goalkeeper Jalyl Servina much relieved as the first half ended goalless.

St Louis Suns almost stunned St Michel a minute in the second half as Melanie picked out Tamboo with a lobbed pass at the far post but he shot wide a decent chance.

St Michel then went on to dominate this half as St Louis Suns looked tired and were just giving away the ball too easily.

On the hour mark, St Michel countered swiftly after a St Louis Suns corner broke down and Corallie picked up the loose ball to release Malagasy Jocelyn Fenosoa who beat the St Louis Suns offside trap to bore on goal but goalkeeper Servina raced out of goal to block his shot.

A minute later, Malagasy Aly curled in a beauty which was heading for the top corner but Adeyeri cleared with a header on the goalline with goalkeeper Servina well beaten.

St Louis Suns though could have set the cat among the pigeon in the 82nd minute as Adeyeri collected a clearance to send Kazeem Sulaimon galloping down the left and his instinctive return pass fell to Adeyeri who had continued to run in the penalty box but he miscued a great chance from an unmarked position with the goal at his mercy.

Nelson Laurence nearly grabbed a dramatic winner in the 90th minute from a flicked header by Jocelyn from substitute Joel Barbe’s long ball but he volleyed agonisingly wide.

The game had to go into extra-time with St Louis Suns happy to keep their opponents at bay with the only chance coming in the 104th minute for Laurence whose hooked pass fell to Jocelyn but his downward header was pushed into corner by goalkeeper Servina.

In the second period of extra-time St Michel pulled off Malagasy Jean-Philippe Rasoloarimanga and on came Radafison as the cup holders went in search of a goal and they came close in the 108th minute from Jocelyn’s corner which Manou headed across goal where Laurence’s header came off the crossbar before goalkeeper Servina smothered the ball.

However, despite looking extremely tired, St Louis Suns held on to send the match into the dreaded penalty shootout.

Former St Michel, Côte d’Or and St Francis midfielder Bernard St. Ange put St Louis Suns 1-0 ahead and then Jocelyn saw his spot kick saved by goalkeeper Servina.

Defender Danny Madeleine failed to keep St Louis Suns’ advantage as goalkeeper Melanie blocked his shot before Laurence leveled the score at 1-1.

Melanie made it 2-1 for St Louis Suns but Aly equalised at 2-2.  Substitute Kelly Nibourette scored to make it 3-2 but captain Nibourette redeemed himself for his earlier miss to level the score at 3-3.

Former St Michel midfielder Henny Dufresne put St Louis Suns ahead 4-3 but Radafison scored the crucial penalty for a 4-4 score as it now moved to sudden death.

Dereck Agathine was assigned to take St Louis Suns’ next penalty as all the other more-experienced players such as the Nigerian contingent chickened out to take the spot kick and sadly, the former St Michel defender shot wide.

It was left to substitute Gervais Waye-Hive to slot the next penalty past goalkeeper Servina to give a narrow 5-4 victory to St Michel as the players and fans celebrated as well as breathed a big sigh of relief.

St Michel manager Andrew Jean-Louis praised St Louis Suns for a gutsy performance after this pulsating cup match.

“It was a very tight match which could have gone either way and whoever won would have deserved it. Our opponents gave us a really tough match as they defended well but we are just relieved to have survived to remain on track to defend our title and I must congratulate our players,” the St Michel manager told Sports Nation.

As for St Louis Suns coach Patrick Cafrine, he was left to reflect on what might have been.

“It was a very close contest as we looked the better side in the first half but failed to score despite playing much better than in our recent matches. But in the end we were just unlucky on penalties where we lost and it is another disappointment for our team,” coach Cafrine said.

St Michel will now face relegated St Francis in the quarterfinals.

La Passe thrash 10-man Anse Reunion

Airtel Cup champions La Passe knocked out bitter neighbours Anse Reunion 6-1 on La Digue on Tuesday to qualify for the quarterfinals.

La Passe, whose only loss this season has ironically come at the hands of their bitter rivals Anse Reunion, took the lead in the 43rd minute through Tanzanian Rashid Mohammed and his colleague Salum Kinje made it 2-0 three minutes later.

Renick Esther stretched La Passe’s lead to 3-0 at half time as he scored in the fourth minute of added time.

Renick Esther scored his second personal goal in the 53rd minute for a 4-0 lead and a minute later, Anse Reunion were reduced to 10 men when Nicholas Mussard was shown a straight red card by referee Bernard Camille for throwing a punch at Kinje after an altercation.

In the 59th minute, Stan Fanchette got in the scoring act as he made it 5-0 but Anse Reunion’s Malagasy defender Eddy reduced the deficit in the 83rd minute for a 1-5 score.

Fanchette scored again in the 88th minute to secure an easy 6-1 victory for La Passe in this La Digue derby which never lived up to expectation.
La Passe coach Bruno Saindini told Sports Nation that his team deserved to win.

“We played well and when our opponents were reduced to 10 men, it became much easier for us and I’m satisfied with our performance,” coach Saindini said.

As for his counterpart of Anse Reunion, Juel Ah-Kong, he said he had to revert to plan B when his key players did not arrive on time for the match.

“We did not play too badly but we just had to re-adjust our team as some of our players did not arrive on time for this match. But at 4-0, the contest was over so we gave some young players some playing time,” coach Ah-Kong told Sports Nation.
La Passe now await the winners of the Revengers/SPDF clash in the quarterfinals.

R. J-L.