Swift Hesper and Progrès Niederkorn to contest cup final

UNA Strassen hosted the first semi-final, which kicked off at 4pm on Wednesday, and welcomed Swift Hesper at the Jean Wirtz Sports Complex. The unfancied home side had reasons to be hopeful of reaching a first cup final in the club’s existence, heading into this game with a six-game unbeaten streak under their belt. The attendance reflected it, as 825 fans turned up to support Vítor Pereira’s crew at the landmark occasion.

These supporters must have been chuffed to see their team start the game in a courageous, front-foot fashion, not shying back from creating chances and catching Hesper by surprise. Playing so openly has its own drawbacks, but it seemed Strassen were in complete control of the situation, acutely aware of when to retreat and focus on shutting down all routes of attack from the opponent, only to then launch another lively counter-attack.

In the 38th minute, the back-and-forth nature of the game bore fruit and yielded its first goal. Surprisingly, not for Strassen: as all too often since his arrival on the last day of the winter transfer window, Swift Hesper’s Austrian midfield maestro Raphael Holzhauser proved decisive, finishing off a brilliant passing sequence between the creative force of the squad (Dominik Stolz, Dejvid Sinani and Holzhauser himself) by a close-range pass into an open net after being left unmarked by Stolz’s inventive movement.

Five minutes later, the former Augsburg and Stuttgart playmaker was gifted another similarly enticing opportunity after a clear Strassen handball resulted in a penalty. As usual, Holzhauserkept a cool head in slotting past goalkeeper Koray Özcan to become the hero and the protagonist of yet another game he has been involved in.

For the second half, Strassen tried to get all their guns firing by bringing on the two attackers named on their bench in Conrad Azong and Nicolas Perez (who was still not quite ready for a full 90 minutes in his recovery from a knee injury). It brought them closer towards creating more chances, but the wasteful finishing prevented them from overly scaring Swift as their two-goal lead never looked in danger.

All in all, Hesper defender Cédric came out victorious in the Sacras family battle after the 90 minutes. His younger brother, Alex, is a fellow left-back so they did not cross paths directly too often (especially given they only spent 19 minutes on the pitch together), but it was once again the former Luxembourg international who is treading the path in the family. A two-time Luxembourgish champion, Cédric now has another shot at adding some silverware to his collection.

In a game they did not dominate, Hesperange’s individual quality shone through once again, and resulted in a place in the 2023/24 cup final. It will be their first appearance at this stage of the competition since 1990, when they ended up going all the way.

Progrès get the job done

Although not quite to the same extent as the previous game, the Wednesday evening spectacle also ended with a result vastly against the state of play. US Mondorf hosted this semi-final at the Stade John Grün, with a palpable desire to upset Progrès Niederkorn.

While Niederkorn have not been to a cup final for decades (going back to 1980, when they lost to Spora Luxembourg), they were still regarded as the favourites to progress this time around, against a Mondorf side who had not lost a game since appointing David Zitelli as their interim manager in March.

It took the Wasps only six minutes to show why: Sofiane Daham gave his team an early lead after Omar Natami’s shot was not parried away sufficiently by stand-in Mondorf goalkeeper Erkan Agović, allowing the midfielder to arrive for the rebound and put it away unpressured.

The goal understandably had a boost on Progrès’ players, who looked adamant in putting an end to every home fan’s hopes as soon as possible, suffocating Mondorf with their intense pressing and trying to create goal-scoring opportunities every time they won the ball.

Although it took a while for the Angry Goats to get a foothold in the game, they started looking more confident after the initial shock (which lasted about 20 minutes) and came up with increasingly efficient ways to bypass the Niederkorn press and exploit the space in behind. Goalkeeper Eldin Latik was put to the test numerous times, after the defenders failed in their quest to stop Mondorf blitzing past them.

The second half told the same story. Mondorf tried more and more vehemently to find a way through the visitors as time was running out, eventually summoning all their attack-minded players from the bench just like Strassen had done in the afternoon. Niederkorn were not completely isolated and pushed back, but their chances were few and far between.

However, Mondorf’s efforts contributed to little in front of goal. For all the creativity and well-devised attacking moves in the early phases of build-up, they were frequently let down by a misfired final pass or a lacklustre finish to end their attacks. The punishment naturally arrived: Walid Jarmouni gained possession deep in the opponents’ half, and tucked the ball away past Agović, leaving no doubts about the outcome of the game.

The 2-0 final scoreline is admittedly harsh on Mondorf, who did more than enough to fight for a draw, let alone avoid conceding a second goal. This defeat marked their second consecutive semi-final exit in the cup, which is no small feat for a traditionally minnow club, but must still feel extremely painful knowing just how close they were.

The final will be played on 9 May 2024 from 19:30 at a neutral venue, the national stadium (Stade de Luxembourg).