Football: Land Marine Cup-St Michel complete clean sweep of honours |27 November 2008

The two teams played a 2-2 draw last Saturday, and after Tuesday’s win St Michel re-wrote the history books as they completed back-to-back league and cup doubles.

More importantly, it ensured a clean sweep of all the titles on offer this season – Triangular tournament, President’s Cup, Airtel Cup, Barclays League Division One league championship and the Land Marine Cup. This is a remarkable achievement for a club who are fighting for their future at a time of economic crisis.

The two teams made some adjustments to their squads in another passionate encounter. St Michel welcomed back captain Godfrey Denis and Neddy Rose from suspension, while St Louis Suns brought on Jones Joubert in place of Steven Constance and kept Eddy Bistoé in the line-up, but relegated Trevor Poiret to the substitutes’ bench.

St Louis Suns should have taken the lead in the fifth minute as Malagasy Jean Del’Or Tsaralaza, playing on the right, centred to the unmarked Congolese striker Jonathan Mbanze, who had only goalie Nelson Sopha to beat but he made a meal of his shot.

St Michel made them pay for this miss as they opened the scoring two minutes later. Goalie Eugene Valentin was slow to react to Malagasy Nestor Benahovy’s floated free kick and the ball hit the foot of a post, and there was Philip Zialor to punish him (1-0).

St Louis Suns, though, were the better side as they kept probing for an equaliser. In the 13th minute, Malagasy Jimmy Radafison picked out Denis Barbé’s run and it needed a timely intervention by captain Denis to stop the national team skipper in his stride.

A minute later, Jude Nancy and Yannick Charlette played a neat one-two on the edge of the penalty area. Nancy went down under Joel Barbé’s sliding tackle but referee Gonzague Boniface was not convinced it was a penalty.

In the 16th minute, St Michel extended their lead as they exploited a lapse in St Louis Suns’ defence. It started from Don Anacoura’s cross from the right to Nelson Laurence, who played the ball back into the box to Malagasy Pascal, whose glancing header flew into the bottom corner away from Valentin’s reach for a 2-0 lead.

St Louis Suns were lucky not to concede a penalty in the 29th minute when Ronny Hoareau pulled Pascal to the ground by the neck, but referee Boniface turned a blind eye.

Despite being two goals down, St Louis Suns showed the urgency and determination to draw level.

In the 32nd minute, Radafison released Jean Del’Or with a long ball over the St Michel defence but the striker lost his footing when in the clear.

St Michel almost killed off the contest with a swift passing move in the 39th minute as Benahovy played a glorious through ball to Laurence, but he delayed his shot and was tackled by Joubert. The ball rolled to Zialor, but he was again tackled by a retreating defender.

On the stroke of half-time, St Louis Suns had another good chance as Radafison – who was lucky not to be sent off in the 41st minute, receiving only a yellow card after elbowing Anacoura – linked up with Mbanze. He in turn set up Jean Del’Or, but his shooting was wayward.

St Louis Suns raised the tempo in the second half as St Michel tried to contain them. In the 50th minute, Barbé threaded a pass to Mbanze, who was face to face with Sopha but he allowed the St Michel goalkeeper to block his shot when it looked easier to score.

Two minutes later, Mbanze collided with Neddy Rose and had to be substituted.
In the 57th minute, St Michel had a decent chance from Anacoura’s deep corner to Zialor, whose downward header was bundled out of play by Valentin.

St Louis Suns though kept pressing for a breakthrough, and in the 62nd minute Jean Del’Or filtered a pass to Barbé, whose volley was spilled by Sopha before being cleared for a corner.

Two minutes later, substitute Trevor Poiret played a deep corner to the unmarked Hoareau, but he could not direct his header on target.

In the 76th minute, another St Louis Suns substitute, Mervin Mathiot, centred but his cross seemed to come off Denis’ hand. The player and a large St Louis Suns contingent appealed for a penalty, but the referee was not convinced.

As St Louis Suns’ frustration increased, the match almost turned to chaos after a bust-up involving Hoareau and Pascal in the 86th minute, but calm was soon restored by the officials and it was a nice scene to see the two players shake hands after the match.

St Louis Suns’ final opportunity of scoring a consolation goal fell to Barbé from Bistoé’s cross in the 89th minute, but his effort flew wide.

St Louis Suns have to accept that they gave a good account of themselves but were just unlucky to leave the venue empty-handed and many feel they blew their chances of winning the cup in the first match last Saturday.

At the final whistle, St Michel players and fans celebrated a hard-fought win although they were not spectacular, but efficient and ruthless in front of goal when it mattered.

The cups and medals were presented to the two teams by Community Development, Youth, Sports and Culture Minister Vincent Meriton, Dave Préa of the main sponsor Land Marine and Seychelles Football Federation chairman Suketu Patel.

St Michel manager Brian Uranie told Sports Nation his team had wanted to repeat the double and acknowledged it has been a fantastic season. 

Uranie took the occasion to devote the title to all their supporters, coaching staff and especially their sponsors. He added that the two early goals helped his team as they just aimed to contain their opponents in the second half.

As for St Louis Suns’ coach Marc Mathiot, he said his team played well, especially in the second half, but their wayward finishing cost them the game.

R. J-L.