By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay
One year since Sierra Leone played Ethiopia in Addis Ababa, the team will be out again in the outskirts of Monrovia to take on Liberia.
Leones Stars absence from the international scene was not a sabbatical but rather a punishment for what FIFA saw as government’s interreference into football. The country has used this long absence wisely. This long stand in the cold meant they could press the reset button and start all over again.
Since the ban, the country has succeeded in reviving its national league, for the first time in four and half years.
Record crowds and record revenues are just some of the success stories at the end of the season. As a result, there is a renewed sense of purpose and an air of optimism in the air. A feeling that Sierra Leone will go through this time round. Nothing is impossible, everything is possible. That’s the sort of feeling this country shares.
The qualifying format
This game is a preliminary qualifier for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Sierra Leone is playing this preliminary round because it is one of the least ranked teams on the continent. Leone Stars is currently ranked 27th on the continent. This round of qualifiers is played by country’s that are ranked 24th or worse on the continent.
Apart from Sierra Leone and Liberia, 22 other countries will be playing each other in the same round of qualifiers. A total of 12 games will be played as part of this preliminary qualifying round.
It is important to note that this is a knockout phase. The winner with the better tally of goal(s) over the other team across the two legs will progress to round two.
At the end of all 12 games, the winners will be drawn with 28 other African countries. All 40 teams will now be drawn in 10 groups of 4. The winner of each group will be drawn in 5 separate two leg ties. The winners of those ties will then automatically qualify for the 2022 World Cup.
Sierra Leone has travelled to Liberia on Monday for the first leg of the game which will be played on Wednesday, 4th September at the Samuel Kanyon Doe Sports Complex. The second leg will be played in Freetown on Sunday, September 8th at the Siaka Steven Stadium.
The road is long.
Critical challenges
No matter how the game turns out, both teams will have just 72hours to rest and get ready for the second game. So managing energy level over the two games and getting the best out of the players is a critical balance the technical staff of the team will have to work out. Another factor that might affect energy is jet lag. Most of the players are coming from parts of the world where they must spend a day or two to get to Sierra Leone or Liberia. So, these are challenges both teams will have to manage.
For both Leone Stars of Sierra Leone and Lone Stars of Liberia the need to get to a major tournament has never been so urgent. In Liberia expectations are high, partly because their President, Goerge Weah is a former World Player of the Year. So the new coach Peter Butler has to manage those expectations and get the team over this hurdle.
In Sierra Leone the situation is similar. The government invested Le. 3.5billion (US$350thousand) to revive the league after four and half years of coma. The success of that league has given the country a feeling that this is the time.
Stats and subplots
Liberia’s coach Peter Butler applied for the vacancy of the Leone Stars job. So, it is easy to expect that he already has a bit of research on Leone Stars. This is a man whose job has taken him all over the world, from Bostwana to Malaysia and now Liberia. He is passionate and energetic. You cannot say anything less about the former West Ham man.
The man who got the Leones Stars job over Butler is Sellas Tetteh. This is the Ghanaian’s second stint with Leone Stars. In his maiden press conference last month, he said: “I have an unfinished business here.” So, the jury is out on him. Amid all this enthusiasm and expectation, he has called for calm and patience.
“ We are pleading with everyone to support us and be patient,” Tetteh said.
Tetteh is calm, calculated and very funny. He has created a family atmosphere around the team. The boys are buzzing. This buzz needs to last for the success of the team, no matter the result.
Liberia and Sierra Leone know each other very well, in culture, trade, diplomacy and football. Dub this game as the Mano-River derby and it will be proper.
Both countries first faced each other in an international friendly on 12th November 1966. That game ended 1-1.
Since then they have played each other 15 times. In total both teams have played each other 16 times, this includes international friendlies.
Liberia has won 8 of those games, Sierra Leone have won just 3 and both teams have drawn 5. The last time Sierra Leone won in this fixture was over 14 years ago. Sierra Leone won 2-0 in June 2005 in an international friendly.
This is such a tight fixture that that of the 16 games between the two sides, only two of those games have produced three goals. The most dominant result between the two is 1-0 and 1-1. So, these are two results that anyone can bet on.
The end of a generation
For some players in the Sierra Leone squad might just be the end of the road for them. This is their last chance to take Leone Stars to the World Cup. If they don’t then by the time the next qualifiers will come around, they will be too old to be fit to play.
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.
It is no secret that the squad is old, but the project for now will be to see this group out and incorporate younger players over the coming years. With age comes experience, that is something this squad is not short of. The can use this experience on the pitch to help the team forward and inspire the next generation.
Younger players like Edmund Micheal, Yeami Dunia and Musa Tombo need these older folks to hold their hands and guide them through.
These two countries have similar history in politics and football. Both teams have shown potential just at the edge but have never really blossomed to realize it. Like Liberia, Sierra Leone has been here before, right at the edge, close enough to just brush cheeks with glory. So, this is a battle of the fringe sides.
This is a year where both countries could take Madagascar as an inspiration; a small coastal country that suddenly exploded on the international football stage at the Africa Cup of Nations.
Leone Stars and Lone Stars need this. Rivals must learn to share, but there is one spot on the qualifying series and it can’t be shared. One team will end up with joy and the other with misery.
© 2019 politico Online
