By Alpha Abu
The year 2024 will be marked with renewed hope for the best from Sierra Leone Premier League football clubs and in a wider context - success for the country’s male national football team, Leone Stars.
The team will be trying to secure a place in the most prestigious global football tournament-the World Cup. It is no doubt a formidable task, as Leone Stars are yet to savour the biggest stage in world football.
To keep watch over the team and help steer it to success is former Leones Stars player Amidu Karim who in December 2023 penned a two –year contract. Karim was appointed at a time many felt change was inevitable; Keister’s style of coaching had in the eyes of many fans become stagnated. Leone Stars’ cautious and defensive style of play had become predictable and boring - victories were few, draws common and defeats inevitable in some instances. Keister’s over -reliance on aging overseas players, many of whom were playing in lacklustre leagues at the expense of better home based boys, infuriated many people.
However to be frank, the elevation of Karim who until then was an Assistant to Keister, came as a shock; it was never contemplated by fans whose favoured candidate was evidently Mohamed Kallon. The basis for their faith in Kallon lies in the fact that apart from his illustrious playing career and experience at international level, he was seen as someone that would have called up players purely on the basis of merit and selected a playing X1 fit for purpose. And many had seen how he had set up his FC Kallon and transformed it into a very competitive side with a large fan base of generally young people. One could sense the level of outrage that swept through footballing circles after Kallon was overlooked for the coaching job.
Disciplinary issues became the defense of the Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA) officials when confronted to explain why Kallon was snubbed. But supporters of the former Leone Stars Captain remain unconvinced and have instead propounded a series of conspiracy theories why the FA would not want him there.
The fact though is that Karim is in charge of the national side and he’s got one hell of a job! And to be fair, the boys have not played badly in his first two games in charge as coach. Leone Stars settled for a goalless draw in their 2026 World Cup qualifier against Ethiopia.
In their next match for the same competition, they faced a more respectable opponent in Mohamed Salah’s Egypt and were unfortunate not to have come away with something from that game though they lost by a two goal score line.
Leone Stars in those two outings never looked the timid type that lacked the desire to play attacking football, and indeed probed and forayed into their opponents’ half with confidence - feats that were missing in the Keister era.
A good number of people were pleased with Leone Stars performances especially against Egypt. Maybe that would help ease the feeling of trepidation of fans and boost Karim’s profile - a man whose ascendancy to the position as gaffer was initially received with disbelief if not derision.
He’s still got a lot to prove in the coming months as Leone Stars battle for progression in the World Cup campaign.
He has indeed called up some new young players from overseas who no doubt impressed in those first two showings. But he needs to build on that, keep the momentum and try to secure qualification for 2026. It could be a big ask especially for the universe’s greatest footballing event, but it is possible.
Karim will have to craft a balance between the home and foreign-based players and build a workable and positive synergy. He should get the boys to forge camaraderie, a fighting spirit and a desire to win. That feeling was in short supply in Leone Stars’ previous campaigns.
Sierra Leoneans are football mad and being coach of the national team draws a lot of scrutiny and criticism. Getting the right results is what would be demanded of Karim. No excuse will be tolerated for inconsistencies or abject failure or else they will be demanding his head!
Another issue worth mentioning in this piece is ongoing efforts to introduce artificial turfs at Approved School playing field east of Freetown, Bo Coronation Field, Port Loko Town Field and SLFA Academy. We all know how terrible our league fields are. Even the country’s main stadium that is now under total rehabilitation had an embarrassingly bumpy pitch that drew indignation from visiting foreign sides.
One can only applaud the initiative to improve the playing surfaces in those selected fields. Approved school field in particular is within a depressed community and having such an upgraded facility there will encourage youngsters to become more attracted to playing the game, diverting their attention away from societal vices.
Our hope is that those employed to do the work of laying the artificial turf will do an excellent job that will last.
It will get our players accustomed to playing on artificial turf, now available in many countries.
The onus too will be on the football administrations in those areas to ensure proper care of these turfs. They should be restricted to purely football. Entertaining other activities other than football will ruin them fast and it will be a case of wasted resources.
One cannot end without recalling a few notable happenings in 2023: the shocking relegation of male football side Kamboi Eagles of Kenema -the first ignoble experience in the club’s history, alongside FC Johansen and Eastern Tigers. The trio were replaced by new kids on the premier league block in Kahunla Rangers, Bhantal FC and Kholifa Stars- all making their debut in top tier football.
For Kamboi Eagles their relegation happened amidst a cloud of intrigue and unsubstantiated allegations of other teams playing safe to get the Eagles down.
As we enter the New Year, we pray that fair play, uprightness, and true spirit of the game will take precedence over anything else.
As the saying goes, so much water has passed under the bridge, and whatever went underneath as sordid as they might have been, we wish not for any repeat in 2024.
We expect good football in the New Year, a true display of sportsmanship, one devoid of shenanigans both at club and national levels. A merry Christmas and a happy New Year to you.
Copyright © 2023 Politico (22/12/23)
