Football: Airtel Cup semifinals |11 September 2017

St Louis, Northern Dynamo qualify for grand final

St Louis and Northern Dynamo have qualified for the grand final of the Airtel Cup after they saw off their opponents Red Star Defence Forces and Anse Reunion respectively in the second leg over the weekend.

Tamboo leads St Louis to final

Striker Elijah Tamboo struck late in this match against Red Star Defence Forces to propel St Louis to a narrow 1-0 victory in the second leg on Friday at Stad Linite for a 2-0 aggregate score to reach the final.

This second leg encounter began with a minute’s silence in remembrance of former St Louis coach Patrick Cafrine who passed away last Tuesday.

Another large crowd had turned up to witness this second leg as they created a fantastic ambiance in the stadium and it was St Louis who started on the right footing in the 6th minute when Tamboo’s cross almost slipped through Red Star Defence Forces goalkeeper Danny Larue’s fingers with Gervais Waye-Hive lurking.

Malagasy Jocelyn Fenosoa responded for his team two minutes later when he broke clear and he rifled a fierce shot at goalkeeper Michel who did well to parry the shot.

The second leg encounter was a cat and mouse game with St Louis denying their opponents space to dwell on the ball with captain Bertrand Esther and Henny Dufresne keeping close tabs on the three Malagasies especially Jocelyn and Michel Namabintsoa who had caused them all sorts of problems in the first leg.

St Louis went close to opening the scoring in the 37th minute from a threaded pass by Nigerian Kazeem Adeyeri to the lively Tamboo but goalkeeper Larue raced out of his goal to block the forward’s shot and injured himself in the process and had to receive treatment.

In the 42nd minute, Collin Bibi played a diagonal pass to Waye-Hive who was in acres of space but he shot disappointingly at goalkeeper Larue.

St Louis though rode their luck in added time at the end of the first half when Red Star Defence Forces countered swiftly and defender Jude Nancy failed to cut out the danger from Jocelyn who weaved his way and blasted a thunderous shot from a tight angle which goalkeeper Michel could only stop with his chest for a goalless first half.

The second half was a tighter affair and in the 65th minute, St Louis brought on Karl Hall who had missed their last three matches with a leg injury to bolster their attack in place of Bibi.

Nonetheless, goal-scoring opportunities were at a premium in this half as St Louis tried to squeeze the result with some tough defending while Red Star-Defence Forces looked a bit short of ideas.

The breakthrough came in the 82nd minute when Red Star Defence Forces’ Jones Larue chest-trapped the ball and shielded it for his goalkeeper Larue to come and collect but he hesitated and Tamboo latched onto the loose ball and tucked it home to make it 1-0 to raise the roof at Stad Linite as their fans celebrated as they were 2-0 up at this point in the tie.

Controversy loomed large three minutes in injury time when Hall was floored after being head-butted by Red Star Defence Forces captain Michel Souris in an off-the-ball incident seen by all in the stadium and shockingly missed by the officials and when the match was stopped and Hall made his grievance known to referee Emile Fred, no action was taken.

Hall got up and walked towards captain Souris who had assaulted him causing his lips to split and the two players rubbed shoulders, the official overreacted and amazingly issued Hall with a straight red card which the whole stadium was stunned at this gross injustice and error of judgment.

There was outcry from the St Louis players as hell almost broke loose as referee Fred lost control of the match for a while and the St Louis management had to settle their players’ anger for the match to proceed.

Moments later there was another flare up at the other end when Henny Dufresne got into a tangle with Malagasy substitute Sydo Jean Alberto and some Red Star Defence Forces officials were about to race onto the pitch to intervene but thankfully police officers were present to diffuse the volatile situation and allow the match to end peacefully with St Louis through to their second consecutive Airtel Cup final though it was Red Star Defence Forces who came out of these two battles with high praise for giving St Louis a run for their money as well as giving them a  real scare, a fact acknowledged by their manager Philip Barbé when he spoke to Sports NATION after the match.

“These two matches were tough especially today as our players are not used to such high intensity matches but I must congratulate them as there was not much difference between these two teams but only that we gifted them a goal. Nevertheless, it is a big achievement for my new team in the top flight to challenge such an experienced opponent and bring such a wonderful ambiance and crowd to the stadium,” manager Barbé told Sports NATION.  

As for St Louis coach Nigel Freminot, he was just happy they have made it to the final and he praised his players for their determination and fighting spirit.

“It was a very intense and good match but it was sad it finished on a sour note with the harsh sending off of our player but I must praise my players for the big effort today and also our opponents who gave us a tough match,” the St Louis coach said.

Northern Dynamo reach final on away goal rule

Northern Dynamo once again came from behind against Anse Reunion on Saturday at Stad Linite to reach the final on the away goal rule after drawing the away leg 2-2 and the second leg ended 1-1 for a 3-3 aggregate score.

Anse Reunion had to push forward in this second leg after throwing away a two-goal lead on Wednesday on La Digue and they looked the better side in the first half with Tanzanian Rashid Gumbo Mohamed dictating things in midfield.

In the 28th minute, Gumbo picked out Noris Bibi with a cross field pass but the young midfielder blazed over the crossbar with the goal at his mercy.

This match which had not attracted a large crowd, almost got out of hand on the half hour mark with tackles flying on both sides and referee Egbert Havelock failing to react and it was left to his assistant Gilbert Lusta who consulted with him and the fourth official Gerald Gonthier to get the referee back on track.

However, referee Havelock made another blunder in the 41st minute to stop play too early to sanction a foul on Wesley Esther who had slipped past two defenders and filtered a pass to Randolph Elizabeth who was clean through on goal to deny Northern Dynamo a clear goal scoring opportunity for a goalless first half.

In the second half, Northern Dynamo brought on their captain Warren Mellie for Aldo Dufresne who had been booked in the first half and it was another substitute Marcus Maria who sent in an inswinging free kick in the 55th minute across the face of Anse Reunion’s goalmouth which Darryl Louise should have headed home but he reacted too slowly.

Anse Reunion went ahead on the hour mark as Noris Bibi fed Gumbo on the edge of the penalty area and he turned to fire a low shot past goalkeeper Ricky Pool for a 1-0 lead.

Anse Reunion though gave away a penalty in the 68th minute when Elton Monnaie tripped Maria who was boring on goal from Malagasy Rajamana through ball and referee Havelock pointed to the spot.

Gambian Musa Njie stepped up for the spot kick and he coolly sent goalkeeper Ian ah-Kong the wrong way for a 1-1 score.

The goal knocked the stuffing out of Anse Reunion and in the 83rd minute, defender Kevin Estico played a long ball to Rajamana who timed his run to perfection to race on goal but goalkeeper Ah-Kong did well to block his shot but Northern Dynamo prevailed with their two away goals on Wednesday to reach the final where they will meet St Louis and coach Cliff Nolin said that they will be better prepared for the final than on Saturday.

“It was a difficult match as the players had not recovered fully from our match on Wednesday in the heat of La Digue but we are just happy to be in the final and now we will prepare for it,” coach Nolin claimed.

As for Anse Reunion coach Ted Esther, he felt his team gave a good account of themselves but had thrown their chance in their home draw.

“We dominated the first half and played quite well and we were combative and I am satisfied with our performance but we must rue ourselves for the home draw which returned to haunt us,” the Anse Reunion coach related to Sports NATION.

R. J-L.