Football – Chan 2018 qualifiers Seychelles lose 1-2 away to Mauritius |24 April 2017

Seychelles have lost the away match to Mauritius on a 1-2 score and will hope to get at least a 1-0 win at home next Saturday to progress to the next round of the qualifiers of the southern zone of the African Nations Championship.

Playing in front of their fans at the Anjalay Stadium in Belle Vue, Mauritius, who had been eliminated by the Comoros over two legs in the African Nations Cup preliminary round, needed just six minutes to open the scoring through Jiovany Vincent and Francis Rasolofonirina added a second goal in the 50th minute.

Seychelles defender Yannick Manoo reduced the arrears with his team’s consolation goal in the 77th minute.

Contacted through Facebook after the match, Seychelles captain Gervais Waye-Hive had this to say to Sports NATION: “It was a brilliant performance from the team as we could have won the game, but were unlucky. It’s never easy to play away from home, but the whole team did their best.”

“The away goal is very important and it increases our chances of qualifying for the next round and we are aiming for a home win on Saturday,” added the Seychelles skipper.

Meanwhile, in another southern zone qualifiers, Madagascar were 1-0 winners over Malawi thanks to a late Ardino Raveloarisona goal in the 88th minute.

It was a first competitive game in charge for Malawi's new Belgian coach Ronny Van Geneugden.

In the central eastern zone, South Sudan were 2-1 winners over Somalia in a match played in Djibouti as Somalia cannot host matches due to security fears.

The return leg fixtures take place this coming weekend with the winners advancing to the next round in their respective zones.

Fifteen teams will eventually join hosts Kenya in the finals of the Chan tournament in 2018.

The Chan is a tournament for locally-based players featuring in their own country's domestic leagues.