Football: African Nations Cup 2015 qualifiers |21 July 2014

Seychelles lose away to Sierra Leone

The Seychelles national team went down 2-0 at the National Stadium in Freetown, Sierra Leone in an African Nations Cup 2015 qualifying first leg match on Saturday.

The country’s team though held their own in the first half against a team who had brought back all their foreign-based players and only fielded three players who are plying their trade in their local league for this encounter.

The players of coach Ulric Mathiot adopted a very defensive approach for this match with Ronny Hoareau, captain Henny Dufrene, Steve Henriette, Benoit Marie and Gino Agathine lined up in front of goalkeeper Vincent Euphrasie who had a good game according to officials of the team.

In midfield Rachim Padayachy, Bertrand Esther, Collin Esther tried to stop the Sierra Leone while Carl Hall and Renick Esther played in attack.

After a goalless first half, the Seychelles defence was breached in the 65th minute as they fell behind 1-0 as Khalifu Jabbie scored and minutes later they conceded a penalty which defender Umaru Bangura of Dinamo Minsk in Belarus tucked home. Seychelles trailed 2-0 as heavy rain made the pitch heavy and life difficult for our team.

SPDF striker and substitute Jude Estico had a glorious chance to reduce the arrears in the dying seconds of the match but his shot came off the post.
But both coach Mathiot and team manager Michel Albert were full of praise for our players’ performance against a strong opponent.

“Our opponents were a very strong team and our game plan was to contain them and we managed to do so in the first half but then we gave away a goal and then there was a penalty. After going two down, we tried to go out for a goal and should have scored but we were just unlucky. However I’m very pleased with the players’ performance because if we had not adopted a cautious approach, we might have suffered a real thrashing,” coach Mathiot told Sports Nation.

Coach Mathiot added that the training camp had been very useful as they worked a lot on a defensive strategy and it also helped to bond the team together.

“Our problem in this match though was our transition from defence to attack as we could not hold the ball up and pass it around but rather gave it away too easily. But then again we had to make do with players that were available so we have to congratulate them as they gave their best,” coach Mathiot claimed.

As for manager Albert, he also commended the players and said they gave a good account of themselves despite the paddy like pitch and a soft penalty decision which made the scoreline flattering for the hosts Sierra Leone.

The Seychelles team will return to the country tomorrow and play the second leg match on Saturday August 2 at Stad Linite.
   
Ranked Africa's 13th-best side, Sierra Leone edged Swaziland 2-1 in the previous round, while Seychelles qualified automatically after Gambia were disqualified for fielding averaged players in an under-20 qualifier.

R. J-L.