Cosafa Beach Soccer Championship   Seychelles drawn in group A   |15 November 2021

Seychelles have been drawn ingroup A alongside hosts South Africa, 2015 Cosafa and African champions Madagascar, and Angola for the second Council of Southern Africa Football Associations Beach Soccer Championship which will be played in the South African coastal city of Durban from November 17-21, 2021.

Attended by dignitaries from the City of eThekwini and KwaZulu-Natal Provincial government, as well as former Bafana Bafana international Mark Fish, who also played beach soccer for South Africa and will be part of the technical study group at this year’s tournament, the draw was made on Saturday and the Seychelles team left yesterday morning.

By the time of going to press, Damien Jean, the head of delegation, told Sports NATION that he and five players were still in Johannesburg, while the other members of the delegation had already flown to Durban.

Group B is made up of 2021 Confederation of African Football (Caf) Beach Soccer Cup of Nations runners-up Mozambique, Comoros islands and East African guest nation Tanzania.

The top two teams in each pool will advance to the semifinals.

The Seychelles team are coached by former Seychelles international Don Anacoura who is assisted by two ex-national team players ‒ Alpha Baldé and Allen Larue.

The 14 players selected for the trip are Terrence Ahmad, Mike Balette, Dominique Bouchereau, Nadim Lucas, Davis Léon, Hansel Coeur de Lion, Robinson Cadeau, Lordy Sinon, Romany Richard, Michel Joubert, Marlon Sophola, Julio Ladouce, Kris Larue and Collin Tirant.

Sophola, Ladouce, Larue and Tirant are all players of 11-a-side football who have been included in the team and it is not clear how this is possible, since the Seychelles Football Federation (SFF) does not allow players of 11-a-side football to play beach soccer.

Damien Jean is the head of delegation, Dominic Savy the team manager and Wilna Figaro the physiotherapist.

The defending champions are Madagascar who won the inaugural championship hosted by Seychelles in 2015. They beat Malawi 9-4 in the final.

The United Arab Emirates club Al-Ahli, who were guests in the competition, finished third to claim the bronze medal with a comfortable 7-3 triumph over Mauritius. Seychelles defeated South Africa 1-0 to finish in fifth position.

The tournament served as a dress rehearsal for hosts Seychelles, who days later staged the 2015 Confederation of African Football (Caf) Beach Soccer Cup of Nations.

Madagascar were in form after their Cosafa exploits and claimed the African title too, beating fancied Senegal on penalties in the decider.

That qualified them for the World Cup in Portugal that same year, but they did not make it out of their group.

Gerard Govinden