Mustapha Bundu scores with a free-kick during Argyle’s Championship match against Sheffield at Home Park on Wednesday, October 25, 2023.
As full debuts go, Mustapha Bundu could not have asked for much better from his first Plymouth Argyle start in a 3-0 Championship victory over Sheffield Wednesday.
The Sierra Leone international, 26, opened the scoring line with a magnificent 20-yard free-kick in the 44th minute as the ball hit
the underside of the bar and went in. His first goal for Argyle since his summer transfer deadline day signing from Belgian club Anderlecht capped a hard-working display which earned him a standing ovation from the Green Army when he was substituted in the 70th minute, with his side then 2-0 up. Bundu said: “It’s an amazing feeling, to do that in front of the home fans, and most importantly getting the win. We have been talking about it; we have had a rough run of results. Adding that they had a good game against West Brom and we could have won it, I thought, especially in the first half, and we played good in the second half as well, so we brought that momentum. According to Manager Steven Schumacher, the previous day that he would be making his first start for the club.
“I was really excited with Bundu’s performance, also in front of the home crowd, he contributed a goal, I’m very happy. We were a bit sloppy the first 25 minutes but we showed great character scoring two goals in five minutes or so. Getting that second goal before half-time as well was very crucial. We came out for the second half and changed the tactic a little bit and I thought we controlled the game fully.”
Bundu scored from a free-kick which was awarded when Whittaker was fouled by defender Dominic Iorfa as he
tried to break into the Wednesday box. Many inside Home Park thought Iorfa was the last man and should have been sent-off for denying a clear goal scoring opportunity, but referee James Linington only brandished a yellow card.
Once all the fuss over that decision had subsided, it looked as though Whittaker would step up to take a shot at goal. Instead, he left it to Bundu and his powerful strike ended up in the net.
“I just had to persuade Morgan at the last minute and luckily he let me take it,” said Bundu. “I’m also happy that he got his goal straight after that.” He added: “We needed that win and we have got it. We have not long until the next game (away to Ipswich Town on Saturday), against one of the best teams in the league. They are flying right now so it’s a very big, important game for us and hopefully we can go there and get a result.” Bundu thought the goal ranked among the top two or three in his career. “It was an amazing feeling,” he said.
“The whole scenario -my first start at home in front of the fans and in a game where we weren’t really on top.” On the reception he got from the Green Army in the 16,225 crowd when he left the pitch, Bundu said: “It has been very nice from day one. Since I have been here it has been fantastic. “That was also one of the reasons why I chose to come here. I had heard and seen a lot of things about the fans last year, travelling very far.
“Even in my few away games here they have been filling up the away ends and very loud with us all the way through. I’m hoping to see them again in Ipswich and hopefully we can get a big result there.” Bundu was also glad to see Hardie come off the bench and score his sixth goal of the season, putting Argyle 3-0 up against Wednesday in the 76th minute with a confident and precise low finish.
Historical background of Sierra Leone soccer
Sierra Leone’s first match was at home on 10 August, 1949 against another British colony, Nigera and was lost 2–0. In 1954 it played another British colony and British administered U.N trust territory, Gold Cost and Trans-Volta Togoland, and lost 2–0 away.
On 22 April 1961, it hosted Nigeria and lost 4–2. On 12 November 1966, it hosted Liberia in its first match against a non-British colony and earned its first draw, 1–1. A week later, it lost 2–0 in Liberia.
On 13 January 1971, it played its first match against a non-African team, West Germany’s B-team. The match in Sierra Leone was won 1–0 by the Germans. Sierra Leone’s first match outside Africa was its first against an Asian nation, China. It lost 4–1 in China on 5 April 1974. In August 2014, Sierra Leone FA cancelled all association football matches in an effort to stop the spread of the 2014 Ebola virus epidemic in Sierra Leone, a week
after Liberia FA did the same Sierra Leonean players playing outside Sierra Leone, such as Michael Lahoud playing in the United States, were discriminated against, with opposition players refusing to swap shirts, to shake hands and to allow them to move to certain places of the stadium because they fear that they could be carrying the disease. The Sierra Leonean national team wasn’t allowed to play home games and all players had to be foreign-based.