Football: friendly match-Seychelles selection overcome USQ |04 June 2011

It was national team coach Ralph Jean-Louis first international match at the head of the selection locally and it ended in victory thanks great parts to England-based Kevin Betsy on his debut.

In fact, it was Betsy who tormented the French fourth division champions and he opened the scoring as early as the fifth minute. It started from Don Anacoura’s quickly taken free-kick to Betsy who rifled a low left foot shot into the far corner past goalie Issa Coulibaly (1-0).

Ten minutes later, Betsy sneaked in between USQ defenders but he shot weakly.

On a counter-attack, the French squad almost stole an equaliser as Jouan Mathias released Yannick Passapé but goalie Nelson Sopha produced a great block to deny him.

Midway in this half, Mervin Mathiot stole the ball from a defender to thread a pass to Betsy who out-sped the French defence and his low shot was blocked by goalie Coulibaly’s legs.

The visitors should have drawn level on the stroke of half-time as Lafuente Marcilla sent in a long ball over the Seychelles defence to Joris Colinet who was in the clear but his lob sailed over the crossbar.

The French team raised their tempo in the second period and had the local team ball chasing for long periods.

However, the boys of coach Jean-Louis almost stretched their lead in the 53rd minute as substitute Trevor Poiret fed Betsy whose strong shot produced a great stop by Coulibaly. Anacoura pounced on the loose ball to score. But his celebration was short-lived as the official signaled an offside.

USQ continued to dominate and Fabrice Buchon’s instinctive volley was inches wide as goalie Nelson Sopha looked stranded.

The Seychelles squad weathered the storm and increased their advantage in the 72nd minute as Jonathan Bibi galloped forward to shake off his marker before cutting the ball back to substitute Alpha Baldé who fired low past Coulibaly (2-0).

They sealed their victory in the 80th minute when Baldé threaded a pass to Betsy who turned his defender to thump low into the net (3-0).

The visitors scored a consolation goal which was a beauty through Colinet who volleyed into the roof of the net in the dying minutes (3-1).

The two teams meet again today at 4.30PM at Stad Linite.

R. J-L.