By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay
When Umaru ‘Zaingallay’ Bangura missed that penalty two weeks ago, the outpour of emotion was ugly. Most people were angry - extremely angry.
During that moment, very few were supportive. Emotions ran to a fever pitch. But Sierra Leone’s failure to qualify for the second phase of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers should not just be blamed on the captain. The blame should rest with so many other people and factors.
If you have never followed Sierra Leonean football you will be tempted to ask - How did they get here? Well, we got here through fights, disagreements and ego games. These are the things that have characterized and polarized the entire football landscape of Sierra Leone at least for the last six years. The situation has created discontent, pessimism and deep suspicion around football and football authorities.
The Minister of Sports, Ibrahim Nyelenkeh recently told President Julius Maada Bio that there is now harmony. “There is now absolute sanity within the realm of football. The Ministry of Sports and the Sierra Leone Football Association. We are now one in developing football in the country," he said at a meeting the President on the eve of the Sierra Leone – Liberia match in Freetown.
If only it was that simple! This is a complex problem. So complex and compounded that it is impossible to get everything in order before November 15th. Yes! November 15th. That’s the date of Leone Stars’ next competitive international fixture. The country will feature in the qualifiers of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations.
Our opponents are the Crocodiles, the Squirrels and Super Eagles; team names for Lesotho, Benin Republic and Nigeria, respectively.
What we should do from now to then?
Sellas Tetteh took Leone Stars late for the Liberia game. So as you will expect, most people will give him a free pass for our failure to go pass Liberia. Tetteh should however know that with forgiveness comes a lot of expectations. So much expectation that there is no margin for error going forward. We have six games to play over the next two years to qualify for AFCON 2021 in Cameroun. We must qualify, whatever it takes. Sierra Leone is a football crazy nation and even though we may express a lot of pessimistic sentiments in the build up to almost every Leone Stars game, but we are quick to bond together in unison and get behind the team. So Tetteh has the energy of the fans now, he must tap into that. He also has time on his side, he must also use it; use it to know these players properly. Nothing is more crucial.
By October, the Sierra Leone Premier League would have started. Tetteh would now see firsthand the local talents on display. The FA’s technical team would no more need to invite 51 home-based players for warm up ahead of qualifiers.
By the time the AFCON qualifiers starts in November, everyone will expect that Tetteh would have known these players.
The Ghanaian himself remarked at a press conference last Friday about the importance of the league to his plans for the national team.
“The national league has to start. The start of the national league is highly important for us,” he said.
In the middle of all of this, Tetteh must find a way to clear out this squad. Umaru Bangura (Zangalay) is 31, Kei Ansu Kamara is 35. Solomon Zombo Morris is 29, Hassan Milla Sesay 31, John Kamara 31, Mustapaha Dumbuya 32 and the list goes on. Some of these players have done well and we should thank them. But we should also find a way of retiring them.
Football, like every other sport, is science. You need the energy of younger players in your team. Their hunger and ambition as well count. It’s about time Musa ‘Tombo’ Kamara, Edmund Michael, Ibrahim ‘Smalling’ Mansaray, Alhassan Koroma, Mohamed ‘Fabianski’ Kamara and others get out there and start getting the international experience they need. The next Leone Stars team should be built around these youngsters; they are the future. And the future starts this November.
This is not a radical change, it shouldn’t be. We must transition the young players easily into the team whiles pruning the old ones out. This doesn’t have to be an overhaul; we can keep one or two of the old guys at least for the next two years.
Building Leone Stars from the bottom
Fixing Leone Stars should not just be from the top. What is happening with youth football? We must build a team from the U-17 and transition the players into the National Team. This is a long-term project that Sierra Leone is already late to start. This underpins the urgency to restart youth football and get a proper structure for it. Players like Musa Tombo, 19 should have started from the U-17. This will help build his confidence and give him the requisite international exposure he needs before leading the line for the national team.
If Tetteh is here for the long-term then youth football is something that he should have plans for.
Note for the coach
National teams are hard to build, partly because you are not working with the players week in week out. So, building a system for a team like Leone Stars takes time. Building a certain harmony is even harder. Because you are dealing with different individuals during different international breaks.
But Tetteh knew what he signed up for. This is not his first undertaking. So, whiles people will be praying for the team to prosper, as he encouraged, it’s time for Sierra Leone to finally break the shackles and get on the big stage. Sierra Leone’s football has lived on the periphery for too long. Its Tetteh’s job now to break that 24 year hoo-doo.
© 2019 Politico Online
