Mauritius name new coach

By Yasine Mohabuth
BBC Sport, Port Louis

Sarjoo Gowreesungkur lead AS Port Louis to four league titles

Sarjoo Gowreesungkur has been named as the the new head coach of Mauritius, he replaces coaching duo France l'Aiguille and Rajen Dorasami.

L'Aiguille and Dorasami were only appointed earlier this year but lost their jobs following a poor Cosafa Cup campaign, when Mauritius lost to Angola and Mozambique.

Gowreesungkur has chosen Patrick Prêle and Taleb Fatehmamode as his assistants while Dev Gopala will be the goalkeeping coach.

The new coach was a versatile international defender and has also coached first division and youth teams.

He has also been in charge of AS Port Louis, who he led to four consecutive league titles between 2002 and 2005.

"I have been evolving from player to club coach and I think this is the logical step, but it is also big responsibility and I will have to prove what I am worth as national coach," he said.

His first task will be to get the team ready to host Tunisia in September in the first match of Group 4 in the qualifying campaign for the 2008 Nations Cup.

Mauritius have only ever qualified for the Nations Cup once in 1974 and Gowreesungkur admitted Club M (the nickname for the national side) will find it difficult to reach Ghana in 2008.

"The opponents in Group 4 are solid ones like Tunisia and Sudan: even Seychelles have made lot of progress," Gowreesungkur told BBC Sport.

"Our league has not started up to now and it is very difficult for the players when they don't have competition in their legs."

Ahead of the Tunisia qualifier in Curepipe, 50 players have been called up for training.