Football - Seychelles thrashed by Reunion in semifinal |25 July 2019

Goalkeeper Ah-Kong conceded four goals against Reunion yesterday

A bronze medal is all that is left to grab for our national football selection at the 10th Indian Ocean Islands Games after a severe 0-4 defeat in yesterday’s semifinal against Reunion at the Auguste Vollaire Stadium in Flacq, Mauritius.

Seychelles were drawn in group A alongside hosts Mauritius and Madagascar and managed to come out second in the group after two draws.

In the first group match against Mauritius, Seychelles picked up a point after a 1-1 draw, while in the second match against Madagascar, the players of coach Gavin Jeanne came out with another point following their 0-0 draw.

To twist things around, the match between Madagascar and Mauritius also ended on a 1-1 draw, leaving all three teams on two points apiece.

Having scored more goals, Mauritius emerged as group winners, leaving Seychelles and Madagascar locked on the same statistics.

Instead of the Fifa Fair Play rule based on the number of cards, a draw took place to decide which of the two will advance to the semifinal and Seychelles were the lucky team.

Mauritius played the other semifinal against Mayotte who were the other group’s runners-up.

In yesterday’s semifinal, from the start, it was obvious that the Reunion selection were more superior than Seychelles and it took them only 15 minutes to open the score through a well-taken free kick by Joe Damour which was way out of the reach of goalkeeper Ian Ah-kong.

Reunion doubled their lead in the 41st minute when Loïc Rivière’s corner went straight in with a little bit of help from the wind and also the positioning of goalkeeper Ah-Kong to end the first half with a comfortable 2-0 lead.

Seychelles conceded a third goal early in the second half (46th) and this time the scorer was Sylvain Philéas.

Reunion wrapped up the match in the 63rd minute with a fourth goal from a superb Alexandre Loricourt volley to book their place in the final against hosts Mauritius on Sunday.

In the other semifinal match at the Georges V Stadium in Curepipe, Mauritius needed a penalty in added time to eliminate Mayotte and book their place in the final.

It was in the 117th minute that Mayotte goalkeeper Mickael Salim fouled Ashley Nazira to give Mauritius a penalty which was well taken by Kevin Perticots and he sent the hosts into the final.

The third-place match between Seychelles and Mayotte will take place tomorrow.

Seychelles: Ah-Kong, Nancy, Marie, Manoo, Joubert, Mathiot, Vidot, Tamboo (59th), Bibi, Sinon (77th), Esther, Waye-Hive, Damoo (32nd), Monnaie.

Coach: Gavin Jeanne

Roland Duval in Mauritius