A handful of fans cling to the wire fencing
outside ofMauritius’ new sportscentre
atCoted’Or.Inside isasighthardlyseen
on the Indian Ocean island for the last
year: a football match.
And not just any game; a vital 2023
Africa Cup of Nations preliminary qualifier
between the home side and Sao Tome
and Principe. The winners go to the
group stage and a guaranteed six
matches with some of the continent’s
major players. The losers are left with
friendlies and regional tournaments.
Financed by China and Saudi Arabia,
the Cote d’Or National Sports Complex
is the impressive new home of Mauritian
sport with a pool, athletics track, judo
hall and football ground with a top
notch artificial surface.
The site’s first international was just
three days earlier, when Mauritius lost
the “away” leg of their AFCON qualifier
to Sao Tome. Sao Tome’s home ground
is not certified by FIFA as safe to stage
internationals so both games areMAURITIUSA year without football
Steve Menaryreports
eye
witness
in Mauritius. Home advantage would
have been a big help for Mauritius, but
a defensive mix-up gifted Sao Tome’s
journeyman striker Luis Leal a goal.
Mauritius have only qualified for one
AFCON finals, back in1974. Since then,
pickings have been slim. In the 2017
AFCON qualifiers, they stunned Rwanda- a team100 places higher in FIFA’s
rankings – and also beat Mozambique,
but have not played in the group
qualifying stages since.
Mauritius have won the football at the
multi-sport Indian Ocean Games twice,
in1985 and 2003, and reached the
final at the last edition in 2019, losing
1-0 on penalties to Reunion after a1-1
draw, but that is only for locally-based
players. Producing a consistent team
for big matches like AFCON qualifiers
is difficult as bringing overseas-based
players over for friendlies is problematic.
“If I was going to somewhere far away
to play a friendly I would come back
tired and I don’t think my club would
want me to go,” says the team’s titanic
centre-half and captain, Lindsay Rose,
who plays in Poland for Legia Warsaw.
Born in Rennes, Rose represented
France from Under-18 to Under-21 level
before being persuaded to play for the
land of his father in 2017. In four years,
Rose managed just five appearances
prior to the Sao Tome ties and bemoans
the inequalities of the qualifying system.
“If we lose then we don’t play for two
years. That’s why I haven’t played so
many games,” he says. “We have to play
qualifiers to play in the qualifiers. It’s
unfair. In Europe, there are countries
that would not make the groups. WeCaption
Flying the flag...the players line up for the national anthems(Credit: MFA)