Beach Soccer: Tri-Nation National Day Tournament |30 June 2023
Most Valuable Player (MVP) and top scorer Dais
Barea crush Sand Warriors to win inaugural cup
● Burundi finish third overall
The Barea, made up of Malagasy players currently playing in the local national leagues, are the winners of the inaugural Tri-Nation National Day beach soccer competition, after thrashing local side Sand Warriors in the final played on Wednesday night at the Roche Caïman Beach Soccer Arena.
The Burundi national selection will be flying home with the cup for third place after defeating local side Seychelles Blue 3-1 in the classification match.
For the tournament, the Seychelles national selection were divided into two teams – Seychelles White and Seychelles Blue –, while the other four local representatives – Sand Warriors, Classic 15, Lost Boys and U20 – were made up of players selected from different beach soccer competitions, including the recently-held first Guinness Football Night.
To reach the final, the Barea, who were drawn in pool A alongside Sand Warriors, finished on top with maximum nine points from three wins in as many matched played, including a 6-2 victory over the latter who finished as the group’s runners-up on six points from two wins and one defeat.
In the semifinals, the Barea eliminated the Burundi national side 5-4, while in the second final-four encounter; Sand Warriors eliminated Seychelles Blue made up of half of the national team, 5-3 on penalty shoot-outs, after the match ended on a 4-4 tie.
In Wednesday’s final, the Malagasies showed their intention straight from the beginning, when Francis Rafara gave them the lead after barely two minutes of play, before Ulrick Xavier doubled their lead six minutes later.
Jeannel Solono then made it 3-0 for the Barea and the score did not change until the end of the first period of the match.
In the second period, Sand Warriors, who had still not recovered from intensity of the match in the first period, conceded another early goal after just three minutes of play when Rofana scored his second of the match.
The local side, however, managed to adjust their defence, containing the Malagasies to a certain extent, especially goalkeeper Travis Cadeau who made some crucial spectacular saves to keep the score 4-0 at the end of the second period of the match.
Already in the driving seat, coach Clovis decided to play his bench in the third period of the match, and in the 9th minute of play, Jean Tigana stretched the Barea’s lead to 5-0, before ‘super sub’ Mario Meme pulled one back for Sand Warriors just seconds later, reducing the Malagasies’ lead to 5-1.
The goal brought a slight sign of rejuvenation for the local side who pushed forward to at least trim down Barea’s lead, but their already dimmed light faded off when Dais made it 6-1 for the Barea with two minutes left to play.
The score remained till the end of the match, crowning the Barea as champions of the inaugural Tri-Nation National Day competition.
Other than winning as a team, the Malagasy players also excelled at individual level, with Dais winning two trophies – Most Valuable Player (MVP) and top scorer – while Michael Toldo was the tournament’s best goalkeeper.
Seychelles Blue received the trophy for Fair play.
In the third-place match, Aboubakar Ndayishimiye gave the Burundians the lead in the third minute of play, before Michael Jumaye equalised for Seychelles Blue in the eighth minute, concluding the first period on a 1-1 tie.
A goal from Elvis Ndumimana after only one minute of play in the second period gave Burundi a 2-1 lead, which was extended to 3-1 by Severin in the ninth minute of the last period of the match, giving the Burundians the win and third-place finish in the inaugural tournament.
Roland Duval
