Football: Can 2013 qualifiers-Seychelles lose 0-4 at home to DR Congo |01 March 2012

Kaluyituka got his name on the score-sheet for the first time in the ninth minute before bagging his second in the 55th for a 3-0 lead.

Meanwhile, TP Mazembe’s Mabi Mputu’s 26th minute strike had given the visitors a 2-0 lead which they carried into the changing room at half-time.

Substitute Kayiba Angani of FC Système rounded off the scoring with a late goal in the 89th minute, meaning the Congolese will carry a 4-0 lead into the second match to be played in mid-June.

Seychelles has been paired against the Democratic Republic of Congo in the first round of qualifiers for the 2013 African Cup of Nations to be staged in South Africa.

The African football governing body Caf (Confederation of African Football) released the draw recently. As from 2013, the African Cup of Nations will be played at odd years instead of even to avoid clashing with the World Cup.

The first leg of the qualifier is set for the end of February and the second leg will be played in mid-June.
The winners of the Seychelles-Democratic Republic of Congo clash will move to the second round of the qualifiers together with the other 13 first-round winners. They will be joined in the second round by the 16 teams who took part in this year’s African Cup of Nations final stage in Gabion and Equatorial Guinea from January 21-February 14.

Co-hosts Equatorial Guinea and Gabon, Angola, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Libya, Mali, Morocco, Niger, Senegal, Sudan, Tunisia and Zambia are the 16 teams who have won byes into the second round.

A second draw will be made to pair the 30 teams who will battle for 15 of the 16 places at the 2013 finals in South Africa. Hosts South Africa will complete the line-up.

Seychelles won a bye into the first round to face DR Congo after Swaziland pulled out of the qualifiers.

The Seychelles national team were to play Swaziland in the first leg of the preliminary round, but the Swaziland Football Association pulled its team out of the qualifiers on Sunday January 1, 2012, saying it does not have the funds for the trip to Seychelles.
A detailed report of yesterday’s match will be published tomorrow.

G. G.