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Football: Cosafa Castle Challenge Cup Seychelles off to South Africa on a mission |24 June 2017

The Seychelles national football team left yesterday for South Africa where coach Rodney Choisy’s men will be competing at the Cosafa (Council for Southern African Football Associations) Castle Challenge Cup 2017.

Seychelles left the country yesterday morning and will play their first game on Monday against neighbours Madagascar in a group B encounter. In this group, Seychelles will also face Zimbabwe and Mozambique, with only the side who finish first progressing to the quarterfinals.

The winners of group B are expected to play Swaziland in the quarterfinals, while the group A winners will meet hosts and defending champions South Africa.

The Cosafa Cup is an annual tournament for teams from Southern Africa, which was inaugurated after the ban against the Republic of South Africa had been lifted and the African Cup of Nations had been staged there in 1996.

The following teams have taken part in the tournament in the past: Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mayotte, Mozambique, Namibia, Reunion, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe, Zambia and South Africa have won the most titles with four wins, while Angola have won three.

Seychelles perhaps only piece of history in this tournament was when striker Phillip Zialor finished as the tournament’s top scorer with four goals, all of them coming in a 7-0 thrashing of Mauritius.

The selection who left for South Africa yesterday feature 20 players, including three foreign-based players ‒ Karl Hall who plays in England for Albion Sports, Carl Hopprich from Hertha Zehlendorf of Germany and debutant Carlos Siméon who plays in Portugal for Maritimo.

The other debutant in the team are LightStars’ Andy Brioche and Foresters’ Martin William.

The following is the full list of players who are part of the selection:

Goalkeepers: Jerome Dingwall, Romeo Barra and Jean-Paul Lesperance

Defenders: Bertrand Esther, Warren Mellie, Benoit Marie, Andrew Onezia, Damien Maria and Andy Brioche

Midfielders: Roddy Melanie, Gervais Waye-Hive, Rashim Padayachy, Collin Bibi, Colin Esther, Martin William, Carlos Simeon and Carl Hopprich

Attackers: Karl Hall, Elijah Tamboo and Leroy Corallie.

 

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