Two Quarter Finals Tomorrow
THE 2016 Blackheart/Saint Lucia Football Association Knockout Football tournament continues tomorrow evening at the Phillip Marcellin Grounds in Vieux Fort with two matches scheduled as teams vie for places in the semifinals.
From 6.00 p.m., former champions Gros Islet come up against three-time champions Mabouya Valley while from 8:00 p.m. defending champions Micoud come up against home team Vieux Fort South.
Meanwhile, the Soufriere Mini Stadium was ablaze over the weekend with the culmination of the preliminary round and the commencement of the quarterfinal stage.
With a crowd estimated at over 3000 fans, the highly-anticipated showdown between defending champions Micoud and the SLFA Under-20 team lived up to expectations. If ever defending champions Micoud needed a stern test, that’s exactly what the SLFA U-20 team provided on the night as the encounter went down to the wire. It was nil all after 90 minutes of relentless football from both sides.
It took a goal in extra time from Micoud’s Kersan Marcellin in the 119th minute to settle the tie to the delight of the Micoud fans.
However, the Under-20s have nothing to be ashamed of. But had they been more composed in front of the goal posts, the outcome would have certainly been different, considering that they squandered seven scoring opportunities, including two in extra time.
The crowd had built up nicely for the night’s second encounter with only standing room available in the stands as home team Soufriere came up against former champions Gros Islet. Both teams met at the similar stage in last year’s tournament at the same venue, with Soufriere emerging triumphant. This time around, however, they were up against a more disciplined and business-like Gros Islet team.
Nevertheless, the Soufriere team’s organized and disciplined approach came up short against Gros Islet as in the 42nd minute Aramis Lorde’s powerful right foot shoot some 30 yards out eluded the Soufriere goalkeeper and went through the posts. That’s all that was needed for Gros Islet to secure the victory as the home team was totally outplayed for the reminder of the match-up.
On Sunday, the action continued at the same venue with two quarterfinal matches. Two teams that have not fared that well in the tournament’s history — La Clery and Marchand – were featured in the first match. Tied on three goals in the tournament, Lincoln Phillip opened the scoring for Marchand in the 38th minute and that’s how the scoreline remained up until the halftime whistle.
On the resumption, La Clery, not to be outdone by their opponents, replied with a stunning free kick by Pernal Williams in the 68th minute. The game went on to 1-1 in full and extra time, during which Marchand kept their nerves and won the penalty shootout 4-2 in their first semifinal berth in the history of the tournament.
Assistant Coach for Marchand team, Canice Dujon, spoke to The VOICE following his team’s historic victory against La Clery.
Dujon said: “The encounter in itself was a test for us to see how well we are prepared, or how well we are going to advance to the final and win the tournament. It’s the first time we have made it to the semifinal round. We scored the first goal, but we lapsed along the way and became complacent. We took La Clery for granted and were not doing what we were supposed to. As a result, La Clery came back and equalized, so from there on we had to regroup and refocus.”
He continued: “Technically, we changed our striker with the original goalkeeper knowing that the game would have gone into a penalty shootout and it did work because we came out victoriously.”
In the night’s second encounter, not short of excitement either, Canaries in front of a massive home support took on Central Castries. The two teams met in the 2014 finals with Canaries getting the better of Central Castries. Canaries won comfortably 1-0 with a goal from Robert Regis in the 47th minute.
