Football - AUSC Region 5 Youth Games |10 December 2022
Bijoux receives his man-of-the-match award from Mr Pierre
Light at the end of the tunnel for Seychelles
A goalless draw against Mozambique and a man-of-the-match award for captain Anil Bijoux were the best the Seychelles boys’ under-17 national team could achieve at the African Union Sports Council (AUSC) Region 5 Youth Games in Malawi.
This draw and accolade achieved in their last group game on Wednesday, offered some hope and a speck of light at the end of the tunnel for the team who were mauled by South Africa and Zambia in their first two games.
The draw meant that both Mozambique and Seychelles finished their group B campaigns with a point each, but the Seychellois were left to carry the weight of the table on account of the heavy defeats in their first two encounters.
Seychelles succumbed to 18 goals in the competition which also served as the Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (Cosafa) qualifier for the TotalEnergies U17 Africa Cup of Nations.
They were pummeled 11-0 by South Africa in their opening game and 7-1 by Zambia in the other.
South African Siyabonga Mabena helped himself to five of his team’s goals and could well have had a double hat-trick had he taken the penalty awarded to South Africa in the 93rd minute with the scoreline 10-0. Instead, captain Benjamin Wallis stepped up and coolly slotted home for his own hat-trick in what was virtually the last kick of the game.
The other goals were scored by Keitumetse Lesia, Dhakier Lee, and Bennet Mokoena.
Seychelles put up a braver performance when they met Zambia for their second group match, but the Zambians were superior.
They were 5-0 up when Seychellois Lorenzo Hoareau finally hit the target to score what would also be Seychelles’ only goal of the tournament. The Zambians hit the net twice after that to bring the final score to 7-1.
Seychelles played most of the game with 10 men after Shawn Adrienne had received a red card early in the first half for intentionally hitting an opponent with the ball while taking a throw-in.
Emmanuel Mwanza netted five of his team’s goals in a superb individual performance with the other two coming from Kelvin Phiri and Lutetekelo Kapowa.
Like Seychelles, Mozambique too had lost both of their opening matches, but their scores were more flattering. They were beaten 1-0 by both South Africa and Zambia.
With both teams eliminated at kick-off, it was a question of playing for honour. With Seychelles not wanting to go home empty-handed they played their best match of the tournament to keep the Mozambicans at bay.
Opportunities were not lacking as the two teams engaged in an intense duel during which Anil Bijoux excelled to become man-of-the-match. It was finally on a 0-0 score that the two teams left the competition, a small consolation prize nevertheless.
Bijoux was presented with his man-of-the-match award by Seychellois David Pierre who is the permanent representative of the United Nation’s Southern Africa Regional Office (AU-SARO) based in Lilongwe, Malawi.
The following are the standings after the group stage of the AUSC Region 5 Youth Games in Malawi. The semifinals and finals are taking place this weekend.
STANDINGS
GROUP A P W D L GF GA GD PTS
Malawi (Q) 2 1 1 0 4 3 1 4
Botswana (Q) 2 1 1 0 3 2 1 4
Namibia 2 0 0 2 1 3 -2 0
GROUP B P W D L GF GA GD PTS
Zambia (Q) 3 3 0 0 9 1 8 9
South Africa (Q) 3 2 0 1 12 1 11 6
Mozambique 3 0 1 2 0 2 -2 1
Seychelles 3 0 1 2 1 18 -17 1
Contributed
