Caf Beach Soccer Championship |17 April 2015
Seychelles finish bottom of group A as Madagascar claim third win
Seychelles have finished at the bottom of group A in the ongoing 2015 Caf Beach Soccer Championship being held here after losing their final match against Egypt yesterday, while Madagascar continued their impressive run with a third win to top pool B.
Having lost their first two group games to Nigeria (1-10) and Ivory Coast (1-2) respectively, Seychelles needed a win to clinch third place in the group as they faced the then other winless side from group A – Egypt – at the National Beach Soccer Stadium.
With both sides looking for a win, it was Egypt who opened the scoring early on with Mohamed Gamal beating goalkeeper Damien Adela to give Egypt a 1-0 lead. It was soon 2-0 though as Egypt goalkeeper Mohamed Fawzy celebrated his 30th birthday by scoring his side’s second goal from a free kick.
Seychelles’ goal came from Michael Cadeau as he caught goalkeeper Fawzy off his line to curl a wonderful shot into the top corner to bring the score to 2-1 at the break.
Egypt restored their two-goal advantage after the break as captain Ahmed Abouserie scored to take the score to 3-1. Robin Mathiot got Seychelles back in the game soon after though as he scored from a strong free kick despite Seychelles being temporarily down to four men after Rondy Onezime was sent off for a foul.
Seychelles’ hope of a comeback was soon extinguished however as Egypt scored twice from a lapse of concentration in the country’s team’s defence.
The final period of the game saw Seychelles continue to push forward in search of the goals to get back in the match, but it was to no avail as the match ended 5-2 in favour of the Egyptians to leave Seychelles winless and bottom of group A.
“I think today the team played the same way they did in our defeat to Nigeria. We did not defend well and our defensive mistakes cost us dearly,” said Seychelles team manager Ralph Rose.
He added: “There is total disappointment within the squad as we really wanted to win this game and our performance today was not what we had hoped for.”
In the fifth place playoff match, Seychelles will face Morocco who finished third in group B, while Egypt will go up against Ghana in the other match.
Despite beating Senegal 5-3 yesterday, the win was not enough to see Ghana make the semifinals as they finished bottom of group B on goal difference (-5).
Senegal, Morocco and Ghana all finished with three points and three-time outgoing champions Senegal progressed to the knockout stage by the skin of their teeth.
In other results, Nigeria defeated Ivory Coast 7-6 after extra-time with a dramatic winning goal in the very last second of the game to finish top of group A. The Ivorians finished in second place.
In group B, Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (Cosafa) champions Madagascar finished top after their 8-5 win over Morocco, meaning they will now face Ivory Coast in the semifinals, while Nigeria will face defending champions Senegal in the other semifinal tomorrow.
S. N.
The following are the final standings
Group A
Team P W W+ L GF GA GD PTS
Nigeria 3 2 1 0 21 8 13 8
Ivory Coast 3 1 1 1 11 11 0 4
Egypt 3 1 0 2 9 9 0 3
Seychelles 3 0 0 3 4 17 -13 0
Group B
Team P W W+ L GF GA GD PTS
Madagascar 3 2 1 0 20 11 9 8
Senegal 3 1 0 2 12 11 1 3
Morocco 3 1 0 2 13 18 -5 3
Ghana 3 a 0 2 12 17 -5 3