By Ibrahim K Bangura (Tanko)
As Leone Stars set to honour their first leg match in the World Cup qualifiers with Ethiopia on 15th November, 2023 in Casablanca, Morocco the Minister of Sports Madam Augusta James-Teima and other football stakeholders on Tuesday 7th November made a remarkable spot visit to the Leone Stars home based training session at the football academy, Kingtom in Freetown.
Speaking to the players and backroom staff, the Minister of Sports deeply expressed gratitude towards the performance of the team during their international friendlies last month against Benin and counterpart, adding that the Ministry with support from government and other line minsters are prepared to make the difference in terms of early preparations especially in this year’s campaign.
She said, Leone Stars must utilized all home matches, regardless of the major challenges due to the renovation of the national stadium at the moment, but the players and technical staff must do their best, as a football nation over the years, the country is seeking for victory this time around.
According to Ibrahim Turay, a call up of home based players has affirmed to A24 Sport that the training session is real apt and awesome based on the new development in soccer. He noted that, much is expected from government in the area of finance and logistics. He said the World Cup group stage qualification is highly difficult because football lovers are absolutely desperate for victory and players and technical staff are always under pressure.
“This is our career, government and football administrators should make us happy. We promised to make Sierra Leoneans smile, we need support from fans and the country as a whole,” he suggested.
Football spectators, however, expressed disappointment over the selection of players and appointment of coaching staff in recent time.
“We need professional backroom staff and starting player in their clubs in aboard. The Ministry of Sports (MoS), Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA) and National Sports Authority (NSA) should focus on massive publicity in a bid to educate the masses on latest development of the team,” they said.
Notwithstanding, Leone Stars need all six points to be comfortable in the group stage if they are to progress based on the track records of their opponent.