Football: Cosafa Cup - Super sub Leroy Corallie nets equaliser for Seychelles against Comoros |29 May 2018

 ● Madagascar beat Mozambique 2-1

Super sub Leeroy Corallie needed just 15 minutes of action on Sunday to score the equalising goal for Seychelles in a 1-1 draw against the Comoros in their first group A game of the ongoing Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (Cosafa) Cup 2018.

Sunday evening’s match was played at the Old Peter Mokaba Stadium in South Africa.

According to reports from South Africa, Seychelles played well in the early stages of the match and they threatened first through Karl Hall in the 10th minute, but his goal was disallowed because he was offside.

The Comoros then grew in confidence and began applying sustained pressure on the Seychelles defence. In the 36th minute, Said Bakari unleashed a left-footed shot which sailed just over the crossbar of Seychelles goalkeeper Alvin Michel.

The score was 0-0 at half-time and when play resumed, Hall headed wide after connecting to a corner kick.

The Seychelles team were made to pay for the miss as Mohamed M’Changama broke the deadlock in the 61st minute with a well-executed header that beat Seychelles goalkeeper Michel to give the Comoros a 1-0 lead.

With his side trailing, coach Gavin Jeanne sent Corallie into the fray in the 70th minute in search of the equalising goal. The diminutive striker made an immediate impact as he scored in the 85th minute with a header past the Comoros goalkeeper Ben Salim Boina to make it 1-1 for Seychelles.

Seychelles’ second game is against Madagascar today and they will face Mozambique in their third and final group A match on Thursday May 31.

Group B is made up of powerhouse Angola, Botswana, Mauritius and Malawi. The winners will proceed to the quarterfinals where they will meet Zimbabwe who are the defending champions having claimed a record fifth Cosafa Cup title in South Africa last year.

The other two quarterfinals will see four-time winners Zambia clash with Namibia and Lesotho take on Swaziland.

Matches will be played at three venues – Old Peter Mokaba Stadium, Seshego Stadium as well as the New Peter Mokaba Stadium. The final takes place on Sunday June 9.

Meanwhile, in the other group A match, Madagascar beat Mozambique 2-1 in a match officiated by Seychellois referee Bernard Camille to take top spot with three points.

Madagascar took an early lead as Andriamirado Andrianarimanana scored in the 7th minute.

Mozambique responded and equalised early in the second half (53rd minute) through Luís Miquissone, but Madagascar were not to be denied all three points as 10 minutes later Tokifandresena  Andriamanjato gave his team the lead once more at 2-1.

Group B got under way at the same venue yesterday when three-time winners Angola took on Botswana.

Angola, who won the last of their trio of titles in 2004, have lofty ambitions in the tournament, which they also see as good practice for September's resumption of the African Nations Cup qualifiers.

Botswana were runners-up just two years ago but this year their ranking has dropped sufficiently for them to have to play in the opening round pool.

The later match yesterday saw Malawi play Mauritius.

Malawi have underperformed in recent years while Mauritius have only won six of their previous 29 games in the competition.

Mauritius last year named 76-year-old French-based Brazilian Francisco Filho, who previously worked at Manchester United, to be their coach and he is looking to improve their chances in the southern African championship.

R. D.