Seychelles eyeing improvement at 2016 Cosafa Cup

by BackPageTXT

Friday Jun 10, 2016. 08:38

Seychelles will be hoping to get their 2016 Cosafa Castle Cup Group A campaign off to a bright start when they meet Madagascar on Saturday.

Known as the Pirates, the Islanders will hope to improve their run at this year's tournament having suffered a group stage exit in South Africa last year.

They lost two matches 1-0 - going down to Mauritius and Zimbabwe, but did hold defending champions and this years hosts Namibia to a draw.

In their previous two matches building up to the regional tournament, they lost 1-0 to Lesotho and 2-0 to Algeria in the 2017 CAF Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.

Looking at previous matches between the two side's, the Pirates have lost twice to the Malagasy. going down by 3-0 and 5-0 margins and this will be their third clash with Ralph-Jean Louis' men chasing a win.

On the other hand, the Barea will be motivated by their advantage against the Pirates and will want to bag a win in their opening match.

In their 2015 campaign, Madagascar reached the knock-out stages in Rustenburg as they finished as leaders of Group B. They beat Lesotho 2-1, defeated Tanzania 2-0 whilst drawing against Swaziland.

Moreover, in the quarterfinals, they overcame the Black Stars of Ghana 2-1 before losing to Namibia 3-2 in the semifinals,but they did manage to finish third following 2-1 win over the Zebras of Botswana.

The match will be staged at the Sam Nujoma Stadium. Kick-off is at 18h30.