SOCCER - SEYCHELLES FAIL IN BID FOR HISTORIC VICTORY .
Mark Gleeson
JOHANNESBURG 1996-08-26
The tiny islands of the Seychelles failed to make soccer history at the weekend when they bowed out of the preliminary rounds of the African Nations Cup .
Trailing fellow Indian Ocean islanders Mauritius 1-0 from the first leg , they were held to a 1-1 draw at home on Saturday despite playing against 10 men for most of the match .
The 2-1 aggregate took Mauritius into the group phase of the qualifiers for the 1998 finals , and kept up the Seychelles ' record of never having won an official match in their 10 years of FIFA membership .
The Seychelles must have thought they were on course for a historic breakthrough when Mauritian midfielder Andre Caboche was sent off for a crude tackle in the 19th minute .
But the visitors responded to the setback immediately -- veteran striker Ashley Mocude scoring a minute later to give them a two-goal aggregate lead .
Although Danny Rose 's 50th-minute equaliser gave the Seychellois renewed hope they could not find the net again and were eliminated .
Mauritius now play in group seven of the qualifiers against Malawi , Mozambique and favourites Zambia .
Namibia , who drew 0-0 with Botswana in their first leg , won the second leg in Windhoek 6-0 to stretch their unbeaten run to eight matches and continue their remarkable progress on the African soccer stage .
They now play in group five with Cameroon , Gabon and Kenya .
German-based striker Bachirou Salou returned home to Togo to score the decisive only goal of their tie against Congo .
Salou , who plays for MSV Duisburg in the Bundesliga , scored in the 53rd minute of Sunday 's match in Lome for a 1-0 aggregate win which takes his side into group six , where they will meet Liberia , Tanzania and Zaire .
Ethiopia needed a penalty shoot-out in Addis Ababa to overcome Uganda after a 2-2 aggregate scoreline .
Both legs ended 1-1 before Ethiopia won the spot kick decider 4-2 .
Uganda 's elimination follows their humiliating 5-1 aggregate defeat by Angola in June 's World Cup qualifying preliminaries .
The other preliminary round second leg match , between Mauritania and Benin in Nouakchott , was postponed until Friday .
Benin won the first leg 4-1 .