Football: Cosafa Castle Cup 2017 - Seychelles lose opening game |28 June 2017

Seychelles kicked off their Cosafa Castle Cup 2017 campaign on Monday when they suffered a 0-2 defeat to neighbours Madagascar, as Zimbabwe took control on group B with a 4-0 thrashing of Mozambique.

In the group A matches played on Sunday, Mauritius lost 0-1 to Angola, while Tanzania beat Malawi 2-0.

Madagascar 2-0 Seychelles

The early stages of the game at the Moruleng Stadium saw the Malagasies create the most chances, often exploiting Seychelles’ fragile defence, but only kept at bay by the excellent Jerome Dingwall who made a string of great saves throughout the game.

Madagascar took the lead through Ardino Raveloarisona on the stroke of half-time after an attack by Seychelles ended with a striker clashing with the opposing goalkeeper. With the Seychelles players still signalling towards the injury, Madagascar broke forward on the counter to score for a 1-0 lead.

 The victory was sealed in the 75th minute courtesy of a curler from just inside the area from Rinjala Raherinaivo which beat the diving goalkeeper Dingwall.

Mozambique 0-4 Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe laid down a marker in their opening Cosafa Castle Cup clash as they thumped Mozambique 4-0 at the Moruleng Stadium.

Former Kaizer Chiefs winger Ovidy Karuru opened the scoring in the 43rd minute, before he doubled the lead in the 64th minute.

Ocean Mushure claimed the Warriors' third goal in the 77th minute, while Majarira rounded off the victory in stoppage time.

Tanzania 2-0 Malawi

Tanzania began their campaign on a high after recording a 2-0 win over Malawi on Sunday afternoon.

Yahya Ramadhani was the star on the day as he bagged a brace with strikes in the 13th and 18th minutes.

The victory moves Tanzania to the top of group A, while Malawi are rooted to the bottom.

Mauritius 0-1 Angola

Angola began their campaign on a winning note after claiming a 1-0 win over Mauritius at the Moruleng Stadium.

The Angolans scored the game's only goal after just four minutes in the first half, courtesy of a strike from Augusto Quibeto.

Angola sit second in group A due to an inferior goal difference to Tanzania.

Yesterday, Mauritius were to meet Malawi as Tanzania were to play Angola in group A, while this evening, Seychelles will go up against Mozambique and Madagascar play Zimbabwe.