Two Months To AFCON… Leone Stars Preparation Is 30% With A Target Of 70% Before Tournament

By Bockarie Allieu FREETOWN, Oct. 15 (SALONE TIMES) –The Sierra Leone senior national team Leone Stars is among the 24 teams that qualify for the AFCON 2021 Competition in Cameroun next year. In this case the head coach John Keister has said the preparation for the tournament is presently rated at 30%. This 30% he said involves the acquiring of foreign base players and home based players. At the initial stage when he took up the job he said he was going on a transition process. He went on that the team was dominated with ageing players as such he wanted to bring on board new and young players that will be long time players. On the issues of the teams friendly matches in Morocco, he said he was satisfied with the performance with team. But he said he was still searching for more players which he said acquiring them will enable him to reach 70% or possibly close to 100% before going to Cameroun for the AFCON competition. Already he said some of the new foreign based players have assured him that they will be part of the squad. Some he said are working on their documents to qualify them to play for Sierra Leone and some were with the team in Morocco. He went on that he is presently training the team a comeback to wining matches. He though said he want to bring in players who are better than the ones he have now. The representative of Africell Abdul Aziz Kamara said they will continue to give full support to the Leone Stars preparations. He went on that Africell is not just a cooperate entity that is just here to do business but they are part of the Sierra Leone committee a reason he said they are always committed and always do pledge their support to activities in the country. A representative of the FA Benson Bawoh highlights were the team’s preparation is now and where they are now heading to. This he they are doing the preparation in collaboration with the government to get the team prepared for the AFCON competition. Already he said the team recently played three friendly matches in Morocco and assured that there will be more before the team’s departure to Cameroun. On the issue of acquiring new players he said they are working with the head coach to communicate to the players. He assured that the FA was ready to speed up their documentation for those who need qualification with FIFA so that they will be okay to play for Sierra Leone. He though said that there are some who said they will not be available to play for Sierra Leone base on their commitment with other country. Benson assures they have held several meeting with the government for the competition which he said has been fruitful.