Italia Shooters 1 Attak 2

Mohamed Nafe: an immediate «impact»

In its first season, the Trois-Rivières Attak reached the Open Canada Cup final after a 2-1 victory over the CSL defending champions, the Italia Shooters, Saturday night in London, Ontario.

Chris Turner opened the score for the Shooters at 17 minutes following a penalty kick awarded after Alex Surprenant made a foul in the penalty box.

The Attak fought back and scored two goals to take the lead late in the first half. At 43 minutes, Mohamed Nafe, who played his first game with the Attak, scored from 25m, and then team captain Boubacar Coulibaly made it 2-1 in injury times.

After the break, the Shooters put a lot of pressure on the Trois-Rivières defence, but could not add another goal before Marc Dos Santos's men took the control of the game at the 60-minute mark.

The Shooters, frustrated, lost their composure and two players were sent off: Andre Stewart, at 73, and then Jason De Thomasis, at 90.

A man down, the Italia Shooters could not level the score and the Attak joins ColumbusClan FC in the final, which will be played on Monday.

"This game was very difficult physically, but we reacted well and we never stopped fighting until the final whistle," said Cédric Joqueviel.

"Today, the team played a great game and the players were like warriors," added Dos Santos. "I am really proud of my team and the players definitely deserved to be in the final."

The Attak thus won its biggest game in its young history. Before the game on Monday…

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