July 20: Seychelles faces Mozambique in Beach Soccer Africa Cup of Nations 2024 qualifier

The Seychelles team for the competition. (Seychelles News Agency)

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The Seychelles’ beach soccer national team hopes to pull off a shock result against Mozambique on Saturday when it takes on one of Africa’s strongest sides at the local Beach Soccer Arena.

The team has been training intensively in recent weeks as it prepares to seek a qualification spot in the CAF Beach Soccer Africa Cup of Nations 2024 (AFCON) and head coach Herald Kowlessur said that the team is looking for a win.

“We have played against Mozambique before and the results were not good, but we are hoping that this is not the case again and we want to come out and play to get a win,” said Kowlessur.

The head coach is asking supporters to come and help  the players in an attempt to get a victory. The match will take place at 6 p.m. at the Beach Soccer Arena in the central district of Roche Caiman. The second leg will take place in Mozambique a week later.

The team is currently in a training camp with full time preparations and the coach says everything is going well and the players are in good form ahead of Saturday’s game.

Earlier this week, the team was briefed by a referee of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and coach Kowlessur explained that this was to ensure the players stay updated with the ever-changing rules of the game.

“We brought the referee to share his experience and let the players know what they can expect from the referees in this match,” said Kowlessur.

Seychelles will be captained by Mike Balette, who shared that the team is a mix of young and experienced players and feels they have enough about them to get a good result.

“We are taking this match seriously, especially as we are playing in front of our fans and we have prepared well and will be looking for a good match,” said Balette.

Stephen Lajoie, who is part of the team, said they are ready to show what they are capable of.

“We want all supporters to come and give us support, where when we see our people cheering us on, it will give us the determination to do well,” he added.

The winners of each edition of the Beach Soccer AFCON, launched in 2006, qualify for the African nations in the upcoming FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup. Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean, has already qualified as it will host the next tournament in 2025.

Senegal is the most successful nation in this competition and in the World Cup qualifications. The Western African country has won seven titles, including the latest one in 2022, and qualified with nine out of 11 attempts. Nigeria follows closely with six qualifications.

Seychelles competed in the qualifiers for the tournament in 2022 in Mozambique and lost 11-4 on aggregate to Madagascar.

The 2024 edition of the tournament will take place in Egypt.