By Mohamed Foday Conteh
Leone Stars Coach, John Keister has dropped last season Sierra Leone Premier League’s (SLPL)top scorer, Musa Noah Kamara in his 25-man squad for friendlies against Bafana Bafana of South Africa and the Leopards of D.R. Congo.
Kamara, who scored Sierra Leone’s first goal in the 2021 African Cup of Nations (AfCON) , is currently in a topsy-turvy situation again after it emerged that he would like to cancel his contract with Libyan Champions, Al-Ittihad, days after arriving in Tripoli.
The 22-year-old striker also saw his contract being terminated by SLPL champions, Bo Rangers for lack of conformity to good moral character and sportsmanship on the 1st September this year.
Keister, who also managed Kamara at East End Lions, did not comment on the reasons for dropping the striker.
However, local football fans are of the notion that the talented striker has ran out his luck.
The Leone Star’s head coach instead named four strikers including Malmo FF’s Mohamed Buya Turay, Bolton Wanderers’ Amadou Bakayoko and Charleston Battery’s Augustus Williams.
Also called up to the senior team for the first time is 23-year-old, Rodney Michael Jr. who had represented Sierra Leone at junior level.
“Beyond excited to get my first call-up to the Sierra Leone Senior National Team,” the Indy Eleven striker said. He added that the selection is a dream come true for him.
Another big name left out of the squad is Anderlecht’s striker and winger, Mustapha Bundu. The FC Andorra loanee was part of Sierra Leone’s AfCON 2021 squad in Cameroon.
Surprisingly for some fans, former East End Lions striker, Alie ‘Nzonzi’ Conteh, failed to make the cut.
The Kallon FC striker found the net twice when Sierra Leone Team B defeated their Cape Verde counterparts in African Nations Championship (CHAN) clash in Rabat, Morocco in July this year.
Other players that made the list are Fatih Karagumruk’s Steven Caulker, Tottenham Hotspur’s youth player Kallum Cesay and Peterborough United’s Idris Kanu.
Sierra Leone will play South Africa on the 24th September in Johannesburg and later play D.R. Congo on the 27th September this year in Rabat.
Bafana Bafana will be looking for their first win over Leone Stars after four meetings. Sierra Leone defeated South Africa in June 2008 when Mohamed Kallon converted a spot-kick in 21 minutes of play. The two sides last played to a nil-nil draw in 2011 to an AfCON Group G Qualifier.
The statistics is however grim for the Leone Stars when it comes to the Leopards of D.R. Congo. The latter won both legs of AfCON Qualifiers in 2014 by two goals aggregates.
The Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA) said both friendlies are lined up due to ‘overwhelming interest by diaspora players to sport the nation’s jersey.’
Copyright © 2022 Politico Online
