Football: Africa Cup of Nations 2013 – first-round qualifier-Seychelles to host the Congolese Leopards today |29 February 2012

Seychelles won a bye into the first round against DR Congo after its initial opponents Swaziland pulled out of the qualifiers, due to lack of sufficient funds for the team’s trip to Seychelles.

The winners of the Seychelles/Democratic Republic of Congo clash will move to the second round of the qualifiers together with the other 13 first-round winners.

Coach Gavin Jeanne, who has taken over the responsibility of the national selection from Ralph ‘Tiapout’ Jean-Louis, who led the team to winning last year’s Indian Ocean Island Games gold medal, told Sports Nation he is all about performance, rather than results.

He explained that it is not easy to put a team together and he thanked the players for their commitment and willingness to defend the country’s flag.

He also said most of the players are young with very little or no international experience at all.
AS for the team’s preparation, coach Jeanne said it has been very difficult as it is not easy to get all the players for most sessions.

The hardest part, he said, was to select the players as it was during the off-season. Another major difficulty encountered was with some of the local clubs who refused to release their players for training.

Coach Jeanne said his side played several test matches against local clubs and added that his young team are ready for the test.

As for the Congolese selection under the leadership of Frenchman Claude Leroy, they polished their preparation with a recent training camp in Oman, where they played against the host country’s nation side and a local club
The 2013 Africa Cup of Nations will be the 29th Africa Cup of Nations organised by the Confederation of African Football (Caf).

 It was scheduled to be hosted by Libya, but Caf then took the decision to move the competition to South Africa.
Today’s qualifier will kick off at 5.30pm and tickets are already sale at R35 and R25.

By the time of going to press, coach Jeanne had not revealed his squad, but DR Congo have come with a 30-player squad.
The RDC selection:

Dibuluna Guelord (DCMP), Kidiaba Muteba (TP. Mazembe), Issama Mpeko (AS V.Club), Kasusula Kiritcho (TP Mazembe), Kimwaki Joël (TP Mazembe), Mampuya Lema (AS V.Club), Mutombo Kazadi (AS V.Club), Lema Mabidi (AS V.Club), Ilunga Kayanda (TP Mazembe), Kanda Déo (TP Mazembe), Mputu Mabi (TP Mazembe), Angani Kayiba (FC Système), Nseka Felly (DCMP), Botayi Pierre (AS V.Club), Ngoy Emomo (AS V.Club), Basilua Jeremie (AS V.Club), Ngandu Junior (DCMP), Kabulo (US Tshinkunku), Thierry Bolongo (Interclube/Angola),Ruffi Mandanda (Tarbes/France), Bokese Gladys (Etoile du Sahel/Tunisie), Cédric Mongungu (Evian TG/France), Mulongoti Assany (Dusseldorf/Germany), Landry Mulemo (Courtrai/Belgium), Fwanda Kinkela (Ajaccio/France), Cédric Makiadi (Fribourg/Germany), Tshiolola Tshinyama (Lokeren/Belgium), Kaluyitukadioko Alain (Al Alhli/Qatar), Trésor Lualua (Blackpool/England) and Matumona Zola (Mons/Belgium).

R. D.