By Desmond Tunde Coker
The Head Coach of the Sierra Leone National Male Senior Football Team, John Edward Keister, has informed the press that friendly matches are very important for the growth of players that are coming into the Leone Stars.
He made this statement yesterday September 20th, 2022 at the Sierra Leone Football Association Headquarters in Freetown as part of a pre-match update before the team departure for two International friendlies against the Leopards of Democratic Republic of Congo and South Africa’s Bafana Bafana.
He said that the players are intact and some of them have already arrived in South Africa coming from their various destinations while he will be moving with some home bases players.
“The technical team needs to see new players that are coming to the team for the first time as well as look at the old player’s performance,” he stated “it is not always about winning; we want to make sure we get the right personnel and these friendly matches open around identification which means by the time we get into the qualification we would have a group together.”
Going into South Africa is very good because this is the time we have to bring these players on board get them together and work with them for the future.
He went on to state that probably this will be the third time the National Team is getting together with the same group of players following from a trip Leone Stars had to Turkey, going into the qualifiers. “Now we got these two hopefuls that will give an idea as to what we want,” he stated.
He commended the Football Association and government for organizing the friendlies which he re-emphasized as very important for growth of Football in Sierra Leone.
He informed the gathering that as he spoke some of the players had arrived in South Africa, but that few of them will be missing including Issa Kallon because he made a move to China, where COVID-19 restrictions are still in force making it impossible to honor the invitation. “Issa Kallon is very happy to come, but we have to be patient with him, but again this is a friendly, he added.
According to Keister, Leone Stars will also be missing, Sullay Kai Kai, Alhaji Kamara who needs to work on his fitness, Mustapha Bundu , who needs to settle in the new club he moved to in Spain.
With all of these players that are not with us, that is why we brought in new players because what we want is a situation where we have strong replacements which will give an idea of the pool of players we have got.
Another name that will be missing is, Kelvin Wright who moved into a new club and is doing preseason training.
Allhassan Koroma’s has personal issues, but will be ready to play for Leone Stars going into the qualifiers.
Keister said that Malian the Bo Rangers player is very important for the team now at this point that is why he has been brought into the squad. “So we are going with these players to the matches with high expectations.”
Deputy General Secretary of the Sierra Leone Football Association, Mr. Mohamed Benson Bawoh, updated media practitioners on the Football Association said that the Association organized the two friendlies for the senior male national football team on September 24th, 2022 away to South Africa and on the 27th, to DR Congo in Turkey.