By Allieu Bockarie
232news
Sierra Leone falls in Group A together with Nigeria, Guinea Bissau and Sao Tome and Principe. After four matches played in the group stage, Nigeria is leading the group with 9 points in 4 matches played, in second is Guinea Bissau with 7 points in 4 matches played, in third position is Sierra Leone with 5 points in 4 matches played and at the bottom is Sao Tome with 1 point in 4 matches.
In the group stage, the group leaders Nigeria have lost one match and won three matches, Bissau have lost one match drew 1and won 1. Sierra Leone have won 1 match, drew 2 and lost 1 match.
In the group stage, two teams are to qualify for the AFCON Competition in Ivory Coast from each group. In group A each country has two more matches to play.
The group leaders have to play Sierra Leone away and engage Sao Tome, Bissau will host Sierra Leone at home and they will engage Sao Tome in Morocco.
In this case, Sierra Leone needs to win the two remaining matches at home and away to qualify them for the AFCON competition.
In the preparations, the money is always available but Sierra Leone is facing a stadium banned from playing home matches, and without fans in another Stadium is one of the greatest problems the team is facing.
The head coach of Leone Stars John is facing severe pressure from home with some people asking for his sacking, noting that his game tactics will not see the team qualify for the AFCON competition in Ivory Coast.
Despite the pressure, John Keister and the technical team are confident that they will qualify Sierra Leone for the Nations Cup in Ivory Coast.
As it is now Nigeria, only needs one victory out of the two matches which they will get against Sao Tome.
Losing to Sierra Leone in their last match will not change Nigeria’s qualifying chances and as such, Nigeria will not spend much on inviting more foreign base players but even with their home base, they will fight to the last minute.
Sierra Leone missed the opportunity to defeat Guinea Bissau in Guinea when they missed an opportunity to convert a penalty kick into a goal leading the match to a 2-2 draw.
Keister believed that if they put their house in order, they will defeat Guinea Bissau on their own turf.
