11th Indian Ocean Islands Games |29 August 2023

Action from the Seychelles v Mauritius match (Photo: Roland Duval)

Seychelles exit competition after losing 0-1 to Club M

The adventure of the Seychelles football national selection at the 11th Indian Ocean Islands Games is over after suffering a second defeat in the group stage of the competition at the hands of Club M of Mauritius.

A single goal in the 17th minute from Aurelien François was enough to send captain Benoit Marie and company packing, following defeat in their inaugural match against host country Madagascar by a similar score.

Compared to the match against Madagascar last week, for yesterday’s encounter coach Vivian Bothe made a few changes, dropping four players and switched from a 4-3-3 formation to 4-4-2.

Club M’s only goal of the match came following a corner by Langue from the left side and François acrobatically made connection to the ball, beating goalkeeper Alvin Michel to give the Mauritians the lead they needed.

Things could have gone worse for Seychelles in the 35th minute when Mauritius were awarded a penalty following a late tackle by goalkeeper Michel on François. After the Seychellois custodian failed to control a poor back pass from Warren Mellie, François ran onto the ball and was in good position to score when goalkeeper Michel fouled him and was awarded a yellow card for the foul.

Goalkeeper Michel, however, made amends by saving David Aristide’s spot kick to keep the one-goal margin until half-time.

In the second half, the Seychelles selection came out more offensively, especially through counter-attacks as Brandon Labrosse kept teasing the Mauritian defence, but he was unable to worry goalkeeper Kelvin Jean-Louis in the Club M’s goal, keeping the 1-0 advantage for the Mauritians.

Seychelles team: Alvin Michel, Michael Mancienne, Don Fanchette, Benoit Marie (captain), Brandon Labrosse, Neil Confiance, Warren Mellie, Kenner Nourrice, Ryan Henriette, Gerick Vidot, Ramlee Pascal

Substitutes: Jean-Paul Lesperance, Julie Brown, Daryl Louise, Dean Mothé, Colin Bibi, Josip Ravignia, Juninho Mathiot, Thierry Camille, Dean Balette.

Head coach: Vivian Bothe

Assistant coach: Bruno Saindini

Roland Duval