Football: Mahinda Rajapaksa Trophy |05 November 2021
The players during a training session (Photo: Joena Meme)
Seychelles off to Sri Lanka tomorrow, face Bangladesh in opening match
Seychelles’ national football team will kick off the Mahinda Rajapaksa Trophy, a four-nation invitational tournament to be held in Sri Lanka, against Bangladesh on Monday November 8 at the Race Course International Stadium in Reid Avenue, Colombo.
The match will kick off at 4pm (Sri Lanka time, 2.30pm Seychelles time) organiser Football Sri Lanka (FSL) has said.
Hosts Sri Lanka and the Maldives are the other two sides involved in the Mahinda Rajapaksa Trophy being played for the first time and they will clash in the day’s second match at the same venue at 9pm (Sri Lanka time).
The 33-member Seychelles delegation will leave the country tomorrow and on his first assignment newly appointed head coach Vivian Bothe will be vying to, if not garner some wins, get his team to fit his playing style and play as a unit.
Coach Bothe and his assistants Alex Nibourette, Gerald Gonthier, Rodney Choisy and Bruno Saindini have had one month to tweak their players.
Since football in Seychelles has been dormant for more than one year due to measures top stop the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, the country’s selection process has been carried out through the dormant database of players from clubs from Mahé, Praslin and La Digue, while several other players have been proposed by their respective coaches following the recent lift on the restrictions
Speaking to Sports NATION yesterday, head coach Bothe said he is quite happy with the level of fitness of his players and the level of discipline within the squad.
“We have a mix of experienced and young players who have worked hard over the last month and are motivated and ready to play their hearts out.
“It is true that the absence of football locally has not helped, but we have had to place a lot of emphasis on physical fitness as most of the players had put on weight. Right now the players’ physical fitness has improved a lot and they are in shape to play competitive matches,” said head coach Bothe whose team were to play their fifth test match yesterday against St John Bosco after having also played St Louis, Pointe Larue Bazar Brothers and the Under-17 selection.
Asked about his expectation for the tournament, head coach Bothe replied: “We need to get a win in our first match as this will help boost our morale for the rest of the tourney.”
According to a press release from the Seychelles Football Federation (SFF), team manager Michael Delpeche has said the team have been training hard and he is pleased with the level of discipline of the players.
“We’ve had good cooperation with the federation, the clubs and especially with all players. The players have shown a lot of discipline, which is encouraging. We’ve put together a mixture of established and young players; we want them to get this experience as we are also preparing for the future,” team manager Delpeche was quoted as saying.
The Maldives are the top-ranked team in the tournament in 156th position on the Fédération International de Football Association (Fifa) world ranking, followed by Bangladesh (187th), Seychelles (199th) and Sri Lanka (204th).
The tournament will be played on a round robin format with all four teams meeting each other once. The top two teams on the points table will meet in the final on Wednesday November 17 at 9pm (Sri Lanka time, 10.30pm Seychelles time).
Seychelles’ second game is against hosts Sri Lanka on Thursday November 11 and they will play the Maldives in their third encounter on Sunday November 14. Both matches will start at 4pm (Sri Lanka time, 2.30pm Seychelles time). All matches will be played at the Race Course International Stadium.
The tournament winners will receive a cash award of US $50,000 along with the trophy.
The Maldives, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka selections
All three of Seychelles’ opponents ‒ The Maldives, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka ‒ were involved in the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Championship played last month in the Maldives and won by India for an eighth time thanks to their 3-0 victory over Nepal in the final on October 16.
Bangladesh beat Sri Lanka 1-0, drew 1-1 to both Nepal and India, and lost 0-2 to the Maldives. Other than losing to Bangladesh, Sri Lanka also lost to Nepal (2-3) and the Maldives (0-1) but they held India to a 0-0 draw. As for the hosts Maldives, they collected two victories against Bangladesh (2-0) and Sri Lanka (1-0) but faltered against Nepal (0-1) and India (1-3).
According to reports, Bangladesh are facing problem hiring a head coach and at next week’s tournament the Bengal Tigers will be under the guidance of Portuguese Mario Lemos who was guiding Abahani Krira Chakra in the league.
The Golden Army of Sri Lanka are coached by Bosnian-Australian professional football manager Amir Alagić.
AS for the Red Snappers of the Maldives, they are coached by former Italian international player Francesco ‘Checco’ Moriero who used to play for Lecce, Cagliari, Roma, Inter Milan, and Napoli. He also won the UEFA Cup title with Inter in 1998 and took part at the 1998 Fifa World Cup with the Italy national team.
Seychelles delegation
The Seychellois players chosen for the trip are:
Goalkeepers: Ian Ah-Kong (la Passe), Alvin Michel (St Michel) and Romeo Padayachy (LightStars).
Defenders: Danny Madeleine, Gervais Waye-Hive, Juninho Mathiot (St Louis), Julio Brown, Sam Hallock (St Michel), Helton Monnaie, Don Fanchette (La Passe), Stan Esther (Red Star Defence Forces), Warren Mellie (Foresters), and Benoit Marie (Côte d’Or).
Midfielders: Jean-Yves Ernesta (Foresters), Rundolf Elizabeth, Dean Balette (St John Bosco) and Kenner Nourrice (St Michel).
Strikers: Josip Ravigna (Real Maldives), Dean Mothé (St Louis), Brandon Labrosse (Foresters), Hubert Jean, Elijah Tamboo, (St Louis) and Thierry Camille (St John Bosco).
The officials: Ralph Jean-Louis (principal secretary for youth and sports), Lewis Madeleine (head of delegation), Michael Delpeche (manager), Vivian Bothe (head coach), Bruno Saindina, Rodney Choisy, Gerald Gonthier, Alex Nibourette (assistant coaches), Juan Michel (physiotherapist) and Kenneth Henriette (doctor).
Gerard Govinden
