Sweet Cosafa Cup revenge for Mauritius

Mauritius outclassed 10-man Seychelles 4-0 Wednesday to exact revenge for the darkest day of their football history. (AFP/File)

JOHANNESBURG (AFP) – Mauritius outclassed 10-man Seychelles 4-0 Wednesday to exact revenge for the darkest day of their football history.

The Cosafa Cup Group A win in Zambia atoned for a seven-goal thrashing by the Seychelles in the same competition five years ago.

Mauritius dominated exchanges in mining town Kitwe from the kick-off of a dead rubber in a mini-league won by Namibia Monday.

Gurty Calambe side-footed a Jean-Pascal Bazerque cross into the net on 14 minutes to open the floodgates in warm, windy conditions.

Jean-Stephane Pierre doubled the lead midway through the opening half by beating goalkeeper Dave Mussard at his near post with a volley.

The Indian Ocean derby ceased being a contest late in the half when Steve Henriette handled to prevent another Mauritian goal.

Henriette was red carded and although Mussard parried a Fabrice Pithia spot kick, the taker fired the rebound into the net.

A further blow to the Seychellois was the loss through injury of captain Alex Nibourette just before half-time at Nkana Stadium.

Despite the handicaps, the team ranked 200 in the world fared better in the second half and Yves Zialor had several chances to score.

Mauritius regained the initiative in the closing stages and Pierre scored again with a low shot under a diviing Mussard 18 minutes from time.

It was his third goal of the southern Africa national team championship, making him joint leading scorer with Jerome Ramatlhakwane of Botswana.

Namibia face South Africa in the quarter-finals and Group B concludes Thursday with the winners advancing to meet Angola.