Football: Can 2017 qualifiers - Ten-man Seychelles earn credible draw against Ethiopia |07 September 2015

Ten-man Seychelles team earned a credible 1-1 draw against Ethiopia in the second African Nations Cup 2017 group J qualifying match on Saturday at Stad Linite.

The Seychellois public finally had a result to be happy about from our football team after so many disappointments in recent matches and it came about when least expected when two coaches had been given temporary charge only for this one-off match but they deserve all the praise as they managed to inspire the team as they opted for a more attack-minded formation and it almost paid dividends as they went close to causing a major upset against the highly fancied Ethiopians who had brought 400 supporters to cheer them on to an expected victory.

This match started 30 minutes late as the Malagasy officials only arrived in the country on the same afternoon after being asked to replace the Comorians who missed their flight during the week.

The two sets of players were introduced to the dignitaries before kick-off and it was Confederation of African Football (Caf) vice-president Suketu Patel who along with Seychelles Football Federation (SFF) chairman Elvis Chetty greeted the players.

The Seychelles team started in top gear as they threatened to break the deadlock as early as the third minute as Gervais Waye-Hive floated a pass to debutant Bertrand Lablache who failed to hit the target from a good scoring position.

In the eighth minute, Achille Henriette threaded the ball to Renick Esther who raced clear and his shot came off a defender to wrong foot Ethiopian goalkeeper Lealem Birhanu but it rolled agonisingly wide of a gaping goal for a corner.

The goals

The Seychelles team carried the game to their opponents who were surprisingly very defensive and they got their due reward in the 22nd minute when Ethiopian defender Tekalin Dedjne handled Henriette’s cross as the ball bounced awkwardly in front of him and the Malagasy referee Hamad Nanpiandraza was quick to point to the spot for a clear penalty.

Nelson Laurence took responsibility and easily scored to give Seychelles a 1-0 lead which was well greeted by the local fans to silence the Ethiopians.

Ethiopian striker Getane Kebede should have levelled matters in the 37th minute as he raced clear but goalkeeper Kitson Cecile stood tall to deny him and a minute later at the other end, Renick Esther smashed a superb volley narrowly wide after a good move involving Henriette and Waye-Hive as Seychelles led 1-0 at half time as Kebede wasted two more clear opportunities to equalise for the Walia Ibex team.

However, Laurence had to be replaced in the second period with a groin injury and only three minutes in this half, his St Michel teammate and midfield partner Trevor Vidot was given his marching orders in controversial fashion for allegedly elbowing Gatoch Panora after he had been booked in the first half for a dangerous tackle.

The one man shortage made life difficult for our team and they soon caved in in the 52nd minute as Shemlese Bekele chipped a pass over the Seychelles defence to Seyoum Tesfaye who appeared to use his arm to chest trap the ball but the officials failed to penalise him and he beat goalkeeper Cecile to make it 1-1.

The goal seemed to spur on the Ethiopians as they attacked at will and the Seychelles team had to drop back on the defensive but they did not lose their shape as they stood defiant in the face of adversity as the coaching team made the necessary adjustments to cope with the Ethiopian onslaughts.

In the 77th minute, Ethiopian captain Solahdin Said managed to breach the Seychelles defence and looked odds on to score but goalkeeper Cecile produced a magnificent stop to thwart him as he was surely the man-of-the-match with four great saves in one-on-one situations.

As for the Seychelles team, they had a final chance to put the cat amongst the pigeons on the stroke of full time as Henriette was brought down on the edge of the penalty area as he surged forward.

Henriette picked himself up to curl in a free kick which flew inches wide of goalkeeper Birhanu’s right hand post as the two teams shared the points. The result was well received by the Seychellois public as they had seen a marked improvement in our team’s play and if not for some questionable decisions by the officials, it could have been a famous victory as well as a major upset against this team who had come with the intention to walk all over us but were left frustrated as coaches Saindini and Choisy had done a brilliant job in the last few days to boost morale in our players and give our national sport renewed hope for the future.

Coach Saindini pleased with result

As expected, coach Saindini was very pleased with his team’s showing in this match where they suffered a lot but played their hearts out to earn a credible draw.

“I was very impressed with the way the players responded in this match and when we went down to 10 men, it was difficult but we did not panic and worked hard and gave more than hundred percent. I would therefore like to congratulate them as I’m very happy with the result,” coach Saindini told Sports Nation.

As for team captain Yannick Manou, who held firm at the back, he was also pleased with his colleagues’ determination.

“It was a good performance as we started strongly and I was surprised by the opponents as I thought they would be more superior than us but we could cope with them though it was difficult when we were reduced to ten, but we kept our concentration and I’m therefore very satisfied with the result as we played to our strengths tactically which suited the players,” captain Manou told Sports Nation.

SFF chairman Chetty was also very happy with the result as he felt we could even have won.

“It was a fantastic performance and I think we could even have achieved a victory but it was not to be. But this result proves that we can handle the so-called big teams,” he said.

For his part, Ethiopian coach Yohaness Sahle, who wanted to win this match to keep pace with group leaders Algeria, was left to rue missed opportunities.

“It was very frustrating as we started slowly as we underestimated our opponents but then tried to wake up in the second period but our opponents played some delaying tactics which was unfortunately not punished by the official. However, I also think they fought hard and probably deserved a draw but as for us, I’m very disappointed as I felt the players were a bit selfish and therefore failed to take advantage of opportunities we created but this is football and we just have to prepare for the next match,” coach Sahle said as the 400 travelling supporters were left disappointed with their team’s inability to overcome Seychelles who rose to the challenge to put in a commendable performance.

R. J-L.