Football: President’s Cup - Anse Reunion meet St Louis today to set the tone for new season |03 March 2018

La Digue outfit Anse Reunion will meet league and SFF Cup champions St Louis in the inaugural match today at Stad Linite for the President’s Cup.

This match will set the tone for the new season as these two African qualifiers face up in search of their first ever President’s Cup title in this season opening match which has seen St Michel win it a record fifteen times since 1997.

Both St Louis and Anse Reunion did not fare too well in the African club competitions two weeks ago as they were knocked out in the first round with both earning home draws after losing the away legs.

However, the two sides feel they have gained much from their African adventure and think they are well prepared to give a good performance this afternoon and more so to help them in their quest for silverware this season in local competitions.

Anse Reunion though have had some difficult issues to deal with since their last outing where they have lost coach Ted Esther who has joined LightStars and four players, namely Adrian Constance and Elton Monnaie who have moved to bitter neighbours La Passe whereas Jules Constance and Noris Bibi have linked up with Côte d’Or.

Nonetheless, team manager Samuel Amice told Sports NATION that they have secured the services of Randy Emile and Stenio Ernesta from La Passe, while Pierre Luigi Nibourette and Romeo Radegonde have returned to the side for the season and Elsie Ernesta is assuming the role of acting head coach alongside Jean-François Dora.

“We have also been benefitting from the coaching expertise of Ralph Jean-Louis for this match and we are thankful for his assistance in a match where we want to win and the players are fired up for a good start after all the changes we have faced at the start of this local season,” manager Amice explained.

The Anse Reunion manager added that the players have really learnt a lot from their African experience which have made them realise the need to work hard if they are to make it on the continent.

“The African competition has made the players more serious in their approach as they realise the need to work hard to compete on the continent and we are hopeful the experience and preparation we made for this competition will put us in good stead to face St Louis where I rate our chances as 50-50, but we aim for a good performance to help us win this trophy,” the Anse Reunion manager said.

For his part, St Louis manager Davis Khan noted that his team want to build on their showing in the African competition and make a bright start to the season as they battle to defend their two titles and qualify to take part on the continent once again.

“Our target for the next five years is to keep qualifying for the African club competitions and we would like to make it to the second round as our first taste after a long absence has given us the apetite for such competition and has shown us how much more we need to do to reach this level, but locally we are very confident of winning our first title as our preparation has gone well and we want to use this match as a springboard for the new season,” manager Khan stated.

St Louis will be expected to field the same squad that drew against Young Africans 10 days ago with Nigerian Kazeem Adeyeri still missing and looks likely to leave the double winners for another club though Gervais Waye-Hive will be among the substitutes after shrugging off an injury.

This rescheduled curtain-raiser match will be much welcomed by the fans as it will give an avant-goût of the upcoming season which promises much in terms of entertainment and let us hope these two teams will serve us a treat this afternoon.   

R. J-L.