Sierra Leone U-17, Sierra Stars, has lost two matches it has played in the ongoing men’s U17 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers in a 5-0 thrashing to Mali after suffering an initial 1-0 loss to Guinea Bissau in the opening match at the Stade Lat Dior in Thies Senegal. The losses have brought an end to Sierra Leone’s hopes of progressing in the U-17 WAFU football Competition.
Sierra Leone went into their final group game knowing they needed to win but the 5-0 defeat ended the team’s chance of qualifying.
According to the match analyses, their counterpart Mali proved too strong for the young lads from Freetown with goals from Youba Koita, Mamadou Doumbia and Bandiogou Diallo in the first 50 minutes. The Malians impressively completed their routing of Sierra Stars with two goals more from Yacouba Maiga in the 67th-minute and Diallo scored a second to complete his brace in the 84th-minute.
The Head coach U-17 Raymond Lewis was self-assured to continue his unbeaten run from the run up to the competition with Sierra Stars, but unfortunately Guinea-Bissau and Mali proved to be hard nuts to crack. “We will definitely come home to continue building these lads, they did not perform well during the qualifiers but there is hope in the future for these boys and the country as a whole,” Lewis assured.
Fans were disappointed with the level of preparedness of the technical team as, prior to the competition, the boys had been camped for almost six months. Despite the relatively good preparation they could not prove well as they lost two matches and conceded six goals in total without scoring any.
It is a fact that across all levels, Sierra Stars remain the only Sierra Leone side to have participated in a FIFA competition after their impressive performance in the 2003 U-17 African qualifiers hosted in Swaziland from where they qualified for the World cup finals in Finland alongside Nigeria and Cameroon under the guidance of former Sierra Leone International Musa Kallon.
In a connected development, Sierra Stars could be suspended because the West African Football Union did a medical examini9nation which certified that some of the footballers which Sierra Leone fielded exceed the genuine age of seventeen years.
By Desmond Tunde Coker
11/02/2021. ISSUE NO: 8000