By Bockarie Allieu
FREETOWN, Aug 25 (SALONE TIMES) – Leone Stars falls in Group E together with defending champions Algeria, Cote D’ivore and Equatorial Guinea in the group stage of the AFCON 2022 Competition in Cameroun.
In the present ranking, Algeria and Cote D’ivore are ranked above Sierra Leone. Besides, the ranking both countries have an edge over Sierra Leone as they have defeated Sierra Leone more than Sierra Leone has done
When the draw was released, most fans were worried over the qualification of Sierra Leone to the next stage of the competition.
But the head of the media for the FA Ibrahim Kamara has assured the fans that the FA is working hand in glove with the technical team to make sure they travel with the best team to Cameroun in January.
Ibrahim went on that they are working on how to convince Sierra Leone players in the diaspora to join the team.
He said the players who qualified the team for the nations cup are good enough to face any country in the tournament.
He went on that in the group stage they drew twice against Nigeria one of the best teams in Africa. In this case, he said Algeria and Cote D’ivore are not extra good than Nigeria.
He said that no two matches are ever the same and, in this case, this is a different tournament with different tempo of all countries involved. In the group stage, the two top teams will qualify to the next stage.
The organizers will also look into the group and pick out four best losers in the six groups to round them up to 16 teams for the battle of the quarter-final stage.
According to Ibrahim, there is lineup of friendly matches for the team’s preparation of which one will be against the national of Ethiopia. At the moment, the home base players are engage in effective trainings for the above tournament.