Seychelles have set sights on victory against Lesotho in their AFCON 2017 Group J Day 3 clash on Saturday, 26 March 2016 at the Stade Linite in Victoria.
Head Coach of the islanders, Ralph Jean-Louis told the CAFOnline.com that his team is in a confident mood to inflict a third defeat on Lesotho in the meeting which will be followed by the return leg on Tuesday, 29 March 2016 in Maseru.
Both teams remain winless in the group with Seychelles managing just a point from their two previous games, whilst Lesotho are without a point after defeats to Ethiopia and Algeria.
“We began our preparation in January where we called 27 players to begin preparing for our busy schedule this year. We knew that this was going to be our first challenge as this young Lesotho team is also without a win in this group.
“The onus will be on our team to win at home in front of our home fans,” explained Jean-Louis.
Nonetheless, the Seychelles trainer is wary of a Lesotho squad guided by a new trainer coupled with young players who are ready to make a name for themselves.
“We expect this young Lesotho team to be all fired up but we also have re-vitalized our squad in recent months bringing a lot of young players who took part in a pre-season tournament at home along with some of our experienced campaigners such as Footballer of the Year Carl Hall, Achille Henriette and St Louis’ Mervin Mathiot who have returned from injury.
“We now have a squad which gives us a lot of hope and possibilities as we have a lot of options to choose from as we aim for victory at home to bring some needed joy to our fans. We want to make everyone happy and for them to show faith in the team,” coach Jean-Louis claimed.
Jean-Louis has also penciled in a couple of youngsters who are showing their potential such as Stan Fanchette, Fabio Lemiel, Dieter Constance and goalkeeper Ian Ah-Kong after good performances in the local league, and he say he thinks he has enough strength in depth to negotiate the threat of the Lesotho squad nicknamed the “Crocodiles” and are ranked 114th on the FIFA ranking compared to Seychelles rated 187th.
“Our objective is to make sure we win at home and therefore we want the players to give the best of themselves and show fighting spirit as well as heed to advice.
“We hope to make our instructions simple to them to put into application,” Jean-Louis stated as his team look forward to a first win in their group and boost their chances in the qualifiers.
Both teams remain winless in the group with Seychelles managing just a point from their two previous games, whilst Lesotho are without a point after defeats to Ethiopia and Algeria.
“We began our preparation in January where we called 27 players to begin preparing for our busy schedule this year. We knew that this was going to be our first challenge as this young Lesotho team is also without a win in this group.
“The onus will be on our team to win at home in front of our home fans,” explained Jean-Louis.
Nonetheless, the Seychelles trainer is wary of a Lesotho squad guided by a new trainer coupled with young players who are ready to make a name for themselves.
“We expect this young Lesotho team to be all fired up but we also have re-vitalized our squad in recent months bringing a lot of young players who took part in a pre-season tournament at home along with some of our experienced campaigners such as Footballer of the Year Carl Hall, Achille Henriette and St Louis’ Mervin Mathiot who have returned from injury.
“We now have a squad which gives us a lot of hope and possibilities as we have a lot of options to choose from as we aim for victory at home to bring some needed joy to our fans. We want to make everyone happy and for them to show faith in the team,” coach Jean-Louis claimed.
Jean-Louis has also penciled in a couple of youngsters who are showing their potential such as Stan Fanchette, Fabio Lemiel, Dieter Constance and goalkeeper Ian Ah-Kong after good performances in the local league, and he say he thinks he has enough strength in depth to negotiate the threat of the Lesotho squad nicknamed the “Crocodiles” and are ranked 114th on the FIFA ranking compared to Seychelles rated 187th.
“Our objective is to make sure we win at home and therefore we want the players to give the best of themselves and show fighting spirit as well as heed to advice.
“We hope to make our instructions simple to them to put into application,” Jean-Louis stated as his team look forward to a first win in their group and boost their chances in the qualifiers.
By: Cafonline.com
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