By Bockerie Allieu
September 09, 2020, (232News)
FREETOWN – Few days ago, the technical team of the senior national team Leone Stars released a list of 51 home base players which they have invited for training.
The above training is part of the Leone Stars Nations Cup qualifying matches. Leone Stars will face Green Eagles of Nigeria home and away in November 2020.
Sierra Leone is in Group L together with Nigeria, Benin and Lesotho. Leone Stars lies in third position with 1 point after two matches played behind Nigeria and Benin in first and second position respectively.
One of the concerns the public is raising is that the country is still under ban on all sports activities.
That while they invite that large number when at the end, the foreign base players will dominate the team.
Reacting to the concerns raised, a member of the technical team said time is against them and they will not sit down and wait until the government lift the ban before they will invite players for training.
He went on that for now all the names on the list will now engage themselves in serious jogging and other individual trainings.
Besides, he said they believe that the government will soon lift the ban as they are aware of the fixtures ahead.
At this time, he said when the players are turning for training they will be physically fit for training after sitting down for months.
On the issue of large number, he said their aim is to build up a new team as most of the players are now aging. He said that though the team will be dominated by foreign base players but said the home base players will be on the standby incase a foreign base player fails to turn up for a particular match.
That it is the home base players that they will be using for the Home base competitions. On the issue of which yardstick they use to select the players, he said the home base players are no strangers to them as they know the players that have been performing well before the Coronavirus break.
He ended up that the selection was done by the entire technical team and not by one person as some are assuming.
