Football: President’s Cup Substitute Anacoura wins it for St Michel |03 October 2022
Anacoura (no. 14) wheels away after scoring the winner for St Michel (Photo: Patrick Joubert)
St Michel United are the winners of the President’s Cup after beating La Passe 2-1 at Stad Linite on Saturday to win the prestigious title a record 14th time since their first win in 1997.
President Wavel Ramkalawan, who is also the patron of football in Seychelles, presented the winner’s cup to St Michel captain Nigel Hoareau and he also gave out the cup and medals to the winners and runners-up. He was assisted by youth and sports principal secretary Ralph Jean-Louis, Seychelles Football Federation (SFF) chairman Elvis Chetty ad SFF chief executive Georges Bibi.
It was 20-year-old Raj Anacoura who sealed victory for St Michel after coming off the bench in the 80th minute for his official debut. Anacoura, who replaced Julio Brown, picked up a pass from Malagasy teammate Francis Rafaralahy to beat La Passe goalkeeper Dave Mussard to his left in the 84th minute.
“I feel very happy and honoured that I have been able to score a goal in my very first prestigious competition to the delight of the team and the spectators. With the grace of God, I look forward to improve on my play and score many more goals for my new team,” said the St Michel new recruit who joined from Marine Maintenance.
St Michel had a slight command in the match and took the lead in the 41st minute through Rafaralahy. The Malagasy player ran onto a through pass played by colleague Josip Ravignia to place the ball into an empty net after goalkeeper Mussard had rushed off his line to close down the angle and clear the danger but was beaten to the ball.
With just two minutes (47th minute) played in the second half, La Passe drew level. At the other end of Brandon Fanchette’s cross was Malagasy player Nomenjanahary Rajaoniasy who beat St Michel goalkeeper Alvin Michel with a shot into the far right corner.
Although La Passe huffed and puffed in search of an equaliser, St Michel maintained the momentum to seal the 2-1 victory at the end of the final whistle and to win the trophy.
“Personally, I feel that we should not have lost this match although we made a few mistakes. On the whole I think we played very well and if we had taken the many chances we had in the match the score would have been in our favour, especially when you take into account that our opponents scored on two of the only clear chances they had,” said La Passe assistant coach Marius Fanchette, who noted that the team will be all out to defend their league title.
As for St Michel manager Andrew Jean-Louis he had this to say: “On the whole it has been a very balanced and interesting match between the two teams but there were moments where we were on top and we had many chances to kill the game as early as in the first half. Unfortunately that’s football. The team was conscious that we had to open the season with a bang to set the pace and confidence given the way we lost the league last season. It was important for us to prove that we are the champions.”
The President’s Cup is played at the start of every season. It is normally contested by the previous season’s league champions and cup winners. Since the cup competition was not organised last season, 2021 /2022 Premier League champions La Passe and runners-up St Michel clashed in the curtain-raiser encounter of the 2022/2023 season.
Officiated by referee Dario Landry who was assisted by James Emile and Rio Dubignon, the match kicked off after minutes’ silence was observed in honour of St Michel head coach Nigel Moustache who passed away on September 18, 2022, seven days after falling ill and admitted to the Seychelles Hospital, and assistant referee Farid Folette who was laid to rest hours before the kick-off after passing away in the early hours of Monday September 26, 2022.
Patrick Joubert
