Football: Afcon 2017 qualifiers - Caretaker coach Bruno to lead Seychelles against Ethiopia |03 September 2015

La Passe’s Malagasy coach Bruno Saindini has been appointed interim head coach of the Seychelles national football team and will take charge of this weekend’s Africa Cup of Nation (Afcon) 2017 group J qualifier against the Walia Ibex Ethiopia.

Bruno, who successfully represented the La Digue outfit as a player for a number of years, will be helped by Rodney Choisy, who guided the Seychelles women’s national team to the semifinals at the Indian Ocean Island Games (IOIG) last month, while Damien Jean will act as the team manager.

Seychelles have been drawn in group J along with Algeria, Lesotho and Ethiopia. They lost their opening match in the tournament away to Algeria on a big 0-4 score and will be hoping that with a new coaching team, the side can bounce back and do our nation proud after a disastrous outing at the IOIG.

Indeed, it will be a very tough test for Seychelles against the Ethiopians who will have over 400 fans travelling for this match and flown here by Ethiopian Airlines, the proud carrier of Ethiopian athletes and spectators.

The Ethiopians possess plenty of qualities to be able to test our players here on Saturday, having already defeated Lesotho 2-1 in their opening group J fixture.

Ethiopia’s Turkish-based defender Walid Atta has warned Seychelles that his side is targeting another three points.

“It’s nice to note that Ethiopia won their first game against Lesotho and I believe coach Yohannes Sahle has come up with great morale to the team, giving them a great urge to win important games. We cannot underrate Seychelles but we will be going there for nothing short of a win,” Atta told Soka25east.com.

The question now is can Seychelles put on a great performance with little preparation as they only began training for the match earlier this week?

We will have to take our seats at Stad Linite as from 4.30pm on Saturday to find out if indeed coach Bruno Saindini’s influence can make a big difference in so little time on the team.

A number of players, including Foresters’ Martin William, and The Lions’ Jerome Dingwall, have been called up for the game, while the notable absentees are Karl Hall, Alex Nibourette and the injured Vincent Euphrasie.

Tickets for Saturday’s match will cost R25 and R50.

The following is the selection that will face Ethiopia on Saturday:

Goalkeepers: Kitson Cecile (Côte d’Or) and Jerome Dingwall (The Lions)

Defenders: Jones Joubert, Benoit Marie (Côte d’Or), Yannick Manou (St Michel), Jean-Paul Adela (La Passe), Brian Dorby (Foresters), Bertrand Esther (St Louis) and Andrew Onezia (The Lions)

Midfielders: Trevor Vidot, Gervais Waye-Hive, Nelson Laurence, Gino Agathine (St Michel), Senky Vidot, Archille Henriette (La Passe), Dine Suzette (Côte d’Or), Basil Bertin (Northern Dynamo) and Martin William (Foresters).

Attackers: Rennick Esther (La Passe) and Bertrand Lablache (LightStars)

S. N.