SEYCHELLES LOOK FOR FRESH START
Seychelles will take on Ethiopia in a Day Two Africa Cup of Nations Gabon 2017 on Saturday, 5 September 2015 at home in Victoria eager to make a fresh start.
The islanders is under new leadership after former coach, Ulric Mathiot saw the end of his mandate after the 2015 Indian Ocean Island Games in Reunion, where the team’s results were very disappointing.
As champions of the previous edition in 2011 on home soil, the Southern Africans left Reunion empty failing to make it beyond the group stage.
They began the AFCON Gabon 2017 Group J qualifying campaign on a wrong footing, a 4-0 drubbing against Algeria in Algiers last June and this time round the Seychelles Football Federation has brought new faces to guide the team through somewhat on a temporary basis.
Madagascar-born Bruno Saindini and Rodney Choisy have been given the mantle to guide the team for the Day Two clash against the Walias, and the duo have made clear their intent by calling-up seven players, who were not members of the squad that played at the Indian Ocean Island Games last August.
“We wanted to have a look at new players and freshen up the squad but at the same time retain some old and experienced players for this match,” Saindini revealed.
Saindini realizes the difficult task on hand as together with Choisy, who guided the Seychelles women’s national team to a semi final place at the Indian Ocean Island Games, have had only a week to prepare for this match but remains optimistic of putting in a good performance.
“We have one of the shortest mandate to lead this team for this one match and it is a very short period but we will see what we can do as we must always remain positive that we can get a satisfactory result in front of our supporters,” said Saindini, who handles Seychellois elite division outfit, La Passe.
His assistant, Choisy, has added that they have nothing to lose as the pressure will be on Ethiopia to win.
“We are very pleased with the players’ enthusiasm for this match as we have nothing to lose, rather try to achieve a positive result. Our opponent may start as favourites, but we will be ready for them and aim to get a result to please our fans at home,” Choisy stated.
With injury keeping some key players out of the team, Saindini remains upbeat he has enough quality in his 18-man squad to face the Ethiopians in the crucial clash.
Algeria and Ethiopia share top spots with three points apiece with Lesotho and Seychelles in that order with no point.
Source: CAFonline.com
