By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay
Sierra Leone Female national team, Sierra Queens, are wrapping the final phase of their preparation ahead of the West African Football Union (WAFU) tournament.
The competition will be hosted in Sierra Leone for the first time.
Zone B, where Sierra Leone falls, will be organizing this competition for the very first time.
Eight teams are expected to participate in the first edition of this tournament. On Sunday, the group stage draw was done where Sierra Leone found itself in Group A, alongside Cape Verde, Senegal and Guinea.
Group B saw neighbors Liberia drawn with Mali, Gambia and Guinea Bissau.
The tournament is set to start on the 25th of February and will end on the 7th of March.
Group A will play all their fixtures in the Southern capital of Bo whiles Group B will play their fixtures in the Northern capital of Makeni.
The finals will be played in Freetown.
Head Coach of Sierra Queens, Abdulai Kalogah Bah, told Politico that their priority would be to work on getting out of the group stage.
“We want to see how we can progress from the first phase, which is qualifying from the group stage, because as you qualify you are automatically in the semi-finals. When we get to the semi-finals, we will see what can do from there,” Bah said.
Bah has tipped Cape Verde as one of the strongest opponents in the group.
“Cape Verde is one of the strongest team in female football on the continent. But we must focus on our own preparation, because at the end of the day, no matter how strong or weak your opposition is, it is all about your own preparation,” he said.
Sierra Leone won the rights to host the tournament three years ago. However, internal wrangling within the country’s football association slowed preparations.
The Head of the local organizing committee for the tournament, Rod Mac Johnson, told Politico that they had done all the necessary arrangements for a successful tournament.
“Before accepting, we had done some self- evaluation to know if we have the capacity to host the tournament,” Johnson said.
“We scored high in match venues and we scored high in accommodation. Both cities were the tournament will be hosted have some great facilities,” he added.
Because the tournament will be hosted in three cities; Bo, Makeni and Freetown, Johnson recognized the need for mobility.
He said as much as this would be a challenge, they had already outsourced transportation to a local company.
“We will have eight buses for movement for each of the teams. We will also have 13 official vehicles for WAFU, CAF and other officials,” he said.
Johnson said the entire expenses of the tournament would be borne by the regional body, WAFU.
Sierra Leone has been training with almost 30 girls over the last month in preparation for the tournament.
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