Football: 2018 Fifa World Cup qualifiers |12 October 2015

Seychelles hope to overturn first leg defeat in away fixture

After losing the first leg match 0-1 to Burundi here, the Seychelles national team hope they can produce a better performance to qualify for the next stage of the 2018 Fifa World Cup qualifiers.

The team were to leave the country yesterday and they were bolstered by the return of defender Jones Joubert who had missed the home leg encounter in which another member of the Seychelles’ rear-guard, Benoit Marie, shone.

After the home encounter, coach Ralph Jean-Louis said nothing is impossible in football and a one-goal deficit is not that hard to overcome if his players give it their all in Burundi.

The second leg will take place at Stade du Prince Louis Rwagasore, Bujumbura, Burundi tomorrow evening at 5pm local time. Fans wanting to keep up to date with the result can do so via the Fifa website or other sites which provide live results such as livescores.com or goal.com.

Other than overcoming the one-goal disadvantage, the Seychelles team will also have to endure the added pressure of playing in front of the Burundi supporters in a stadium that holds up to 22,000 people.

It is a difficult task for the team, but it is by no means an impossible one, as we all know that anything can happen in football.

Aside from the coaching staff made up of head coach Ralph Jean-Louis and his assistants Bruno Saindini and Don Anacoura, the delegation also consists of Andrick Savy (physio), Michael Delpeche (team manager) and Philip Sinon (head of delegation).

The players are: Vincent Euphrasie, Gino Melanie and Jerome Dingwall (goalkeepers); Jean-Paul Adela, Jones Joubert, Benoit Marie, Adrian Constance, Jude Nancy and Nelson Laurence (defenders), Trevor Vidot, Karl Hall, Martin William, Archille Henriette, Gervais Waye-Hive, Basil Bertin, Elijah Tamboo and Roddy Melanie (midfielders), Che Dorasamy, Randolph Elizabeth, Dean Suzette (strikers).

The 2018 Fifa World Cup will be the 21st and it is scheduled to take place in Russia from June 14 to July 15, 2018, after the country was awarded the hosting rights on December 2, 2010. This will be the first World Cup held in the area of the former Soviet Union and the first to be held in Europe since 2006.

S. N.