By Chernor Alimamy Kamara
Sierra Leone’s national football team yesterday suffered defeat away to Nigeria in their opening group A qualifier of the African Cup of Nations.
Jonathan Morsay for Leone stars scored in the 11th minute after receiving a decent assist from inform striker Musa ‘Tombo’ Kamara. The goal of Morsay was short lived when Nigeria’s, Alexander Iwobi equalised in the 16th minute. In the 41st minutes of play, Victor Osimhen who plays for Napoli scored to put Eagles in the lead 2-1.
The preparation of the match was greeted with lot of controversies where 29 officials and 25 players were invited to grace the tournament. The team camped in Guinea/Conakry where they are set to host their home matches before heading to Nigeria to honor their fixture.
Before the commencement of the match, many football loving fans and pundits questioned the team selection made by Coach Keister . Though he is the gaffer, many questioned his selecting of Emmanuel Samadia as a left back when the natural choice should have been Kevin Wright who was on the bench.
His insistence in using John Bankole as holding midfielder in place of available young talented midfielders, also surprised many. Ibrahim Sillah, Kallum Cesay and Kamil Conteh in the friendly matches held in Turkey were very good. People were expecting him to either maintain that midfield trio or introduce Demba Kamara, playing for Italian side Rimini FC. People also had doubts over the defensive pairing of Steven Caulker and Alie Sesay, not a good combination.
Fans are saying that if Keister were to continue coaching the national team, more is needed in terms of tactics, selection and technical ability. Leone Stars next match is against Guinea Bissau is to be held in Conakry on Monday 13th June, 2022.
Copyright © 2022 Politico Online (10/06/22)
