2015 Cosafa Beach Soccer Championship - Seychelles lose opening match |10 April 2015

It was not the best of start for Seychelles yesterday in the 2015 Cosafa Beach Soccer Championship as the country’s team lost their opening group A fixture against neighbours Mauritius.

It was Seychelles who started the match the brightest however as Hansel Coeur de Lion opened the scoring within seconds, with a long range effort straight from kick-off.

It looked a promising start, but Mauritius soon found a way back in the game when striker Stephan Nahab equalised soon after.

The Mauritians’ winning goal also came in the first period as with a few minutes left on the clock, Jean Mervyn Jocelyn’s powerful long range effort left the Seychelles goalkeeper Damien Adela rooted to the spot as the ball found refuge in the top right corner.

The second and third periods saw quite a few actions in front of goal, but it was all to no avail as the score remained 2-1 in favour of the Mauritians.

Seychelles’ team manager Ralph Rose said: “I am very disappointed at our performance as the players did not play to the level they have played before. We now have to go back to the drawing board and go all out for victory in tomorrow’s (today’s) match against Malawi.”

“We lost our first game earlier today (Thursday), so it was important for us to get a win against Seychelles, not only to keep our chances alive, but also because of the regional sporting rivalry between our two nations,” said Mauritius coach Jean Eddy Rose.

In yesterday’s other three matches, Malawi defeated Mauritius 6-3 in group A, while the United Arab Emirates lost 10-9 after penalties (8-8 after normal time) against Madagascar and won their second match 10-7 against South Africa.

S. N.