Football: Airtel Cup semifinals – first leg |22 September 2014

Away leg wins for La Passe, St Michel

La Digue-based La Passe and Airtel Cup defending champions St Michel registered important away victories in the first leg of the semifinals of the same competition on Saturday.

La Passse travelled to Mahe and edged St Louis 1-0 at Stad Linite while St Michel came from a goal down to beat Côte d’Or 2-1 at the Amitié Stadium.

La Passe edge St Louis Suns

At Stad Linite many thought this first leg semifinal encounter was going to be postponed because of the heavy downpour throughout the day which probably kept some of the supporters away from the stadium.

On the pitch though, La Passe were ready for the challenge as they had come down with their band Leko Bwa Ver to cheer their team who had promised to attack their opponents.

La Passe were true to their word as they should have opened the scoring in the seventh minute from a superb cross by Collin Esther which sailed through the St Louis Suns defence and fell to captain Achille Heriette who rifled a low shot which beat goalkeeper Joel Lesperance but it came off the foot of the post as the boys of coach Patrick Cafrine rode their luck.

Seven minutes later at the other end St Louis Suns had a glorious chance to take the lead from Henny Dufresne’s through ball to captain Mervin Mathiot who shot straight at goalkeeper Vincent Euphrasie who pushed the ball out to the same Mathiot for a second bite of the cherry but he made a meal of his shot.

In the 17th minute, St Louis Suns were lucky not to concede a penalty when Serge Asba bundled Tanzanian Rashid Mohamed from the back but referee Emile Fred turned a blind eye.

La Passe had to replace the injured Alex Dugasse with Renick Esther as St Louis Suns also had a scare when goalkeeper Lesperance went down with an ankle injury which required some time to treat before he got back in goal still limping.

La Passe went ahead on the half hour mark after Mohamed went on a mazy run across the St Louis Suns defence and was brought down for a free kick on the edge of the penalty area.

Captain Henriette curled a fantastic shot past a static goalkeeper Lesperance into the roof of the net for a 1-0 lead.
In the 36th minute, Mohamed played a brilliant ball to captain Henriette who had all the time in the world but his cross was poor or else Renick Esther would have made it 2-0.

In the 42nd minute, St Louis Suns were furious with the official for failing to spot an alleged elbowing incident by La Passe’s Malagasy defender Tholix Jean on Nigerian Kazeem Adeyeri who went down holding his face. But the official took no action and Dufresne was booked for making his views known to him.

In injury time, Tanzanian Salum Kinje floated a free kick to the far post which the St Louis Suns defence failed to clear and Mohamed sneaked in to meet the ball but he lofted it onto the roof of the net.

St Louis Suns almost made a sensational start to the second half as Dufresne broke forward in the opening seconds to shoot at goal but his shot flew agonisingly wide.

La Passe’s captain Henriette also tested goalkeeper Lesperance from long range in the 46th minute and he could only parry before collecting the ball at the second attempt.

Ten minutes later, captain Mathiot surged forward and his curling left foot shot produced a flying save out of goalkeeper Euphrasie to turn the ball into corner.

On the hour mark, La Passe nearly added a second goal as Kinje threaded a pass to Renick Esther who fired a low shot which crashed against the foot of goalkeeper Lesperance’s post.

La Passe were always a threat and in the 66th minute, Renick Esther picked out captain Henriette whose downward header from close range was just off target.
Two minutes later, Trevor Poiret floated a corner which Dufresne headed over the crossbar as St Louis Suns tried to push forward in search of an equaliser but La Passe defended stoutly.

St Louis Suns’ last chance to salvage a draw came deep in injury time from Roddy Melanie’s free kick which caused a scramble in the La Passe penalty area but substitute Elijah Tamboo blasted the loose ball wide with goalkeeper Euphrasie off his line to condemn St Louis Suns to a home defeat.
Coach Cafrine was as expected not pleased with his team’s showing in this match when he spoke to Sports Nation.

“This was surely not our best performance as we lacked commitment in the first half and allowed our opponents to put us under pressure. We tried to raise our game in the latter stages but La Passe defended well, so overall I’m very disappointed with our performance,” coach Cafrine said.

As for La Passe coach Bruno Saindini, he did not want to let himself get carried away with this win as he felt his opponents still have a chance despite the home loss.
“It was a good result for us which places my team in a good position but there is still a lot to play for in this two-legged match and we cannot rule out St Louis Suns,” coach Saindini told Sports Nation.

St Michel brush aside Côte d’Or’s challenge

Cup holders St Michel travelled to Praslin for this much-anticipated clash with their bitter rivals Côte d’Or, the reigning Barclays league division one champions, and returned with a crucial 2-1 away win.

St Michel though had to come from behind as 2012 Airtel Cup winners Côte d’Or took the lead through Dine Suzette for a 1-0 advantage at half-time.

St Michel came back strongly in the second period as Malagasy Jocelyn Fenosoa levelled matters at 1-1 before his colleague Hassan Aly scored the winner midway in this half for 2-1 final score – a result which pleased coach Ralph Jean-Louis.

“It was a good result for my team and we are looking forward for the second leg. We conceded in the first half from a defensive mistake but overall we deserve to win and could even have won by a wider margin with the number of chances we created,” coach Jean-Louis told Sports Nation.

For his part, Côte d’Or coach Ahmed Abdou thought his team lacked determination in the second half which cost them the match.

“It was an entertaining match where we started well but grew over-confident after taking the lead. But we still believe in our chances as all is not lost,” coach Abdou said.

The second leg matches of the semifinals will be played on Saturday September 27 with La Passe hosting St Louis Suns on La Digue and St Michel welcoming Côte d’Or at Stad Linite.

R. J-L.