Football: Intelvision Cup final |09 December 2014

St Michel clinch league and cup double

Barclays league division one champions St Michel completed a double by clinching the Intelvision Cup in a nail-biting 6-5 penalty shoot out at Stad Linite on Saturday to bring a glorious end to the 2014 football season.

This match, which was a real cut and thrust affair but surprisingly had a poor first half, was evenly poised at 1-1 at the end of the 120 minutes.

St Michel, who stared defeat in the face, completed a fourth league and cup double after also achieving the feat in 1997, 2008 and 2011. This is the second time in their history after 1997 that they win the double by staying unbeaten in the league.

St Michel failed to find their rhythm whereas Côte d’Or grew in confidence as the encounter elapsed as they denied their opponents space and this game was crying for a goal to enlighten it.

In fact it was Côte d’Or who nearly broke the deadlock in the dying minutes of the first half from Malagasy Jean Tigana’s corner which was cleared to Malagasy Paul Bruyelle on the edge of the penalty area and his shot was turned into corner by goalkeeper Nelson Sopha.

Côte d’Or broke the deadlock in the 51st minute on a counter-attack after St Michel’s Malagasy Jocelyn Fenosoa’s curling corner was heading for goal until goalkeeper Kitson Cecile saved at the second attempt and threw the ball out to Bruyelle. The Malagasy player darted down the left and was chased by compatriot Hassan Aly who was elbowed in the face but referee Bernard Camille took no action allowing Bruyelle to storm into the penalty area and pull the ball back to Gerald Basset whose instinctive shot was handled by Yannick Manou. Referee Camille did not hesitate to point to the penalty spot and Malagasy Jean Tigana was assigned the responsibility and he coolly sent goalkeeper Sopha the wrong way as the ball grazed the foot of the post before rolling into the net for a 1-0 score which was celebrated by the Côte d’Or supporters in the stands.

St Michel thought they had leveled the score six minutes later as Gervais Waye-Hive linked up with Jocelyn who looked offside but the flag was late as he shot into the net before assistant referee Jean Ernesta signaled for the infringement.

In the 62nd minute, Jocelyn whipped in a teasing free kick to the unmarked Nelson Laurence but he failed to connect from close range.

Five minutes later, referee Camille denied St Michel a big shout for a penalty after Oliver Bonté handled Jocelyn’s cross but he turned a blind eye.

St Michel kept pushing forward and were caught on the break in the 77th minute in a three-on-one situation as Ryan Antat set up Tigana but he failed to hit the target with the goal begging.

As the minutes ticked away and St Michel sensing the cup slipping away from their grasp, they pulled off defender Jimmy Radafison to bring in his colleague, attacker Jean-Philippe Rasoloarimanga.

St Michel had another decent chance to draw level in the 86th minute as Aly combined with Jocelyn who fed substitute Leeroy Mathiot but he made a meal of his shot from close range.

St Michel’s Leeroy Corallie then showed his frustration with a lunging two-footed tackle on his former teammate Darwind Rosette who had come on as a substitute for Basset.  Referee Camille did not appear to see the incident which was signaled by his assistant Hansley Petrousse. The official, who had booked Corallie earlier for kicking the ball away, only awarded a free kick much to St Michel’s relief as they rode their luck.

St Michel then raised the roof of the stadium as they grabbed a last-gasp equaliser from Jocelyn’s free kick which just shaved captain Alex Nibourette’s head to wrong-foot goalkeeper Cecile for a 1-1 score as the St Michel supporters roared in appreciation.

The official awarded six minutes of injury time and in the fifth, St Michel again were hard done by referee Camille from Corallie’s shot which Benoit Marie blocked with his hand but he waved play on.

As the score remained deadlock, the mach went into extra-time as the tension reached fever pitch and three minutes into this first period of extra-time, St Michel were denied a valid goal by assistant referee Ernesta.

It all started from a long ball forward by Jean-Philippe which Benoit Marie miscued in his attempted clearance and it fell to the lurking Jocelyn who buried his shot into the net but St Michel’s celebration was short-lived as the official raised his flag for a non-existent offside which was rather a very controversial decision.
In the 105th minute St Michel again felt aggrieved with referee Camille from Jocelyn’s corner which was met by Manou’s overhead kick and it hit Ryan Antat outstretched hand for a blatant spot kick similar to the one awarded to Côte d’Or but surprisingly the official remained silent, much to the disgust of the St Michel fans.

In the first minute of the second period of extra-time, assistant referee Petrousse failed to signal for a clear offside by Waye-Hive as he latched onto Jocelyn’s through ball but thankfully for Côte d’Or, Benoit Marie recovered in time to put him off with a last-ditch tackle.

This period saw end-to-end stuff and in the 115th minute Rosette surged forward to thread a pass to Tigana whose shot flashed agonisingly across the face of St Michel’s goal.

At the other end a minute later, Jean-Philippe raced clear to centre to the unmarked Jocelyn who could not direct his header on target at the far post.
In the 118th minute, Côte d’Or were also furious with the official after Corallie hacked down Tigana in full flight for a penalty but referee Camille was not convinced.

On the stroke of full-time, Côte d’Or should have killed off the contest as Bruyelle collected Shaun Barbe’s crossfield pass to elude captain Nibourette and lay the ball on a plate to Ryan Antat but he amazingly scooped it over the crossbar from five metres out much to the disbelief of the Côte d’Or bench as it was a really bad miss which they were to rue in the penalty shootout which followed.

The penalty shootout

Côte d’Or started well as Tigana tucked home the first penalty before Jean-Philippe made it 1-1.  Benoit Marie made it 2-1 but Waye-Hive rammed the ball home for a 2-2 score.
Ryan Antat, still haunted by his horrific miss, then blazed his spot kick over the bar and Aly converted to put St Michel 3-2 up.

Goalkeeper Kitson Cecile restored parity at 3-3 and then captain Nibourette saw his too casual spot kick stopped.  Substitute Branly Zizi gave Côte d’Or a 4-3 lead but Jocelyn thumped home to make it 4-4 as it now moved to sudden death.

Bruyelle missed for Côte d’Or and Manou followed suit, Bonté was denied by goalkeeper Sopha and Corallie’s spot kick was charged down by goalkeeper Cecile.
Rosette could not beat goalkeeper Sopha with the eighth penalty and likewise Mathiot forced a good save out of goalkeeper Cecile.

Urry Bibi’s spot kick was blocked by goalkeeper Sopha who then composed himself to blast past goalkeeper Cecile to propel St Michel to win the shootout 5-4 and the match 6-5. The goal ignited joyous scenes on the pitch and in the stands.

Of course, veteran goalkeeper Sopha was the hero with his penalty stops and scoring the winner but there were heroes such as substitute Kennan Nourrice alongside Manou who held firm at the back as they went in search of an equaliser after falling behind in this pulsating encounter.

“It was important to win a double especially for the younger players who have never experienced this wonderful feeling. However, we did not play to the same level we reached against La Passe but after we conceded, it revived the players and I was confident I could help the team in the penalty shootout,” 40-year-old Sopha told Sports Nation as he said he is not thinking of hanging up his gloves yet.

As for St Michel manager Andrew Jean-Louis, he was just overjoyed and also relieved they had achieved their goal in difficult circumstances.

“We did not start off well but then we had to raise our game when we conceded in this tough encounter. Our players persevered despite some bad calls by the officials against us and I salute their performance more so goalkeeper Sopha for helping us win this cup. I would like to seize this occasion to thank everyone who have supported us and helped in our successful season,” manager Jean-Louis said.

For his part, Côte d’Or’s coach Ahmed Abdou was disappointed his team had allowed this great opportunity to dethrone St Michel slip away.

“We played well in the first half but we missed too many opportunities to win this match and in the end, we were punished. But this is football and I would like to congratulate our opponents,” coach Abdou told Sports Nation as his team quite sportingly gave St Michel a guard of honour treatment as they went up to receive their winners’ medals and trophy.

The cup and medals were presented by Intelvision’s chief executive Reza Jaro who described the match as “very exciting and a very good one”.

Mr Reza was helped by Seychelles Football Federation chairman Elvis Chetty and Social Affairs, Community Development and Sports Minister Vincent Meriton.

Sports Nation would like to commend St Michel for their double and their fantastic achievement this season.

R. J-L.