By Desmond Tunde Coker
Sierra Leone’s Under-23 male national team is undergoing intensive training ahead of its double header against the Junior Chipolopolo of Zambia.
Sierra Leone will host Zambia on the 22nd of October, 2022 at the Samuel Kanyon Doe Stadium (SKD) in Monrovia Liberia, before going away to Zambia on October 29th in Lusaka.
The winner between Sierra Leone and Zambia will face the winner between Egypt and Eswatini in the final round.
The qualifier is for a place in the All African Games football competition in Morocco in the year 2022 and later in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
The Head Coach of the U-23 side, Amidu Karim, said that the team has commenced training early in the hope of getting the team in a very good shape before hosting their Zambian counterparts in the double header.
“We are working on so many things during our training to see how best we can knock them out of the qualifiers and make it to the group this time around. We know it is going to be difficult as a team. We respect our opponent, but with our boys who had been together in recent times more so with the inclusion of our professionals, we are hopeful of a better result,” Karim promised.
He went on to state that the team will play friendlies with Premier League clubs in Sierra Leone to see some of the weaknesses the technical staff must address before going to Liberia to face their opponents.
“In today’s session we are pleased and you can see it from the players as lots of seriousness is being put into the training in order to make the 23 man squad,” he said.
When asked why he has invited 43 players for the training, the Head-Coach responded that it was important to see new players who had not been around the national team so that they could have the opportunity of showcasing their talent.
“Our technical team is on top of the situation; we hope to see how it goes,” Amidu Karim stated.
Going into the Sierra Leone encounter Red Arrows F.C. striker Ricky Banda has been ruled out of the upcoming Zambia U-23 AFCON qualifier first leg fixture against Sierra Leone set for October 22nd in Liberia due to injury concerns.