Sierra Leone have dropped one place on the latest Fifa ranking announced by the football global body Fifa Thursday, 31st of March.

The Leone Stars moved from 107 to 108 in the World Ranking but maintained 24h on the Africa podium.

The West African nation set up its Mediterranean training camp in Turkey during last month’s Fifa international window in readiness for the 2023 Ivory coast African Cup of Nations qualifiers starting in June.

At the Mardan multi-purpose stadium in Aksu, Antalya, the Leone Stars suffered A 3-0 opening defeat to Togo on March 24th before winning their remaining two matches against Liberia on the 27th 1-0 and Congo Brazaville 2-1 on the 29th.

In Africa, Senegal (20), Morocco (24), Nigeria (30), Egypt (32), and Tunisia (35) completed the five top rankings, ahead of Cameroon (37), Algeria (44), Mali (52), Ivory Coast (53), Burkina (56), and Ghana (60).

Meanwhile, on the Arabic scene, Egypt are now second, only behind Morocco, with Tunisia, Algeria, and Saudi Arabia completing the top five.

Brazil are now in first place, followed by Belgium, France, Argentina, England, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Mexico, and the Netherlands, making the top 10.

The next FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking will be published on 23 June 2022.

Sierra Leone News – Connect With Us @football_sierra, on Facebook/ Instagram Football Sierra Leone, writer Lamin Turay in Freetown.

Leone Stars of Sierra Leone are in a high spirit to wrap up their FIFA sanctioned friendlies on a positive footing as they take on the Red Devils of Congo Brazzaville on Tuesday, March 29, at the Mardan Sports Multi-Purpose Stadium in Aksu, Antalya, Turkey.

Following Congo’s 3-1 defeat to Zambia, they’ll be eyeing a resurgent against Sierra Leone, who defeat Liberia (1-0) on Sunday.

The match will provide coach Keister with a chance to hand some much-needed game time to some fresh faces in the squad. 

19-year-old Kallum Cesay has been consistent as a full-back for Premier League side Tottenham Development Squad this term, making 21 appearances in all competitions, might get the nod. 

The youngster earned a place on the first-team bench twice in the UEFA Europa Conference League, having also featured for Tottenham’s senior side in pre-season.

Three players from Dutch side SC Cambuur are expected to be part of this tie. Alex Bangura, Issa kallon for Sierra Leone and David Sambissa of Congo Brazzaville.

Both teams have played four times as Sierra Leone leading head to head with two wins, a draw and a defeat since October 1994.

Meanwhile, head coach John Keister has confirmed two of his key defenders will not be available for the Leone Stars of Sierra Leone’s final International friendly on Tuesday.

Defender Yeami Dunia, IF Sirius left-back Kevin Wright, were injured in the triumph against Liberia on Sunday. As a result, they will play no part in Tuesday’s contest.

During Monday’s training session, the team was divided into two groups as most of the players against Liberia were placed to recover whilst the others completed an hour and 15-minutes training.

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Bolton Wanderers striker Amadou Bakayoko accounted for his first international goal in the 30th-minutes assisted by FC Johanan defender Lamin Conteh as Sierra Leone defeated Liberia at the Mardan Stadium on Sunday.

Head Coach John Keister made eight changes to the squad that lost to Togo in the opening match on Thursday as he tried to evaluate his new team.

This tie gets off to a fast start between the two West African neighbours as both teams come into the contest back of a defeat. Liberia suffered a 4-0 hammering to Benin while Sierra Leone succumbed to a 3-0 beating to Togo.

After a couple of half-chances in the opening 25-minutes, Leone Stars’ broke the deadlock with a decent cross from Lamin Conteh, that found the head of the big striker who converted his first goal in his second appearance for Sierra Leone.

Leone Stars took a goal lead into the second half, and after the restart, Liberia came on stronger well-composed, playing some good passing football as they tried to restore parity, but the Sierra Leone defence stood firm to register their first win.

Changes Yeami Dunia out for Demba Kamara 45th, Alie Conteh in for Amadou Bakayoko, Issa Kallon in for Augustus Kargbo, Kamil Conteh replaced Jonathan Morsay in the 63rd minutes. Kevin Wright injured was replaced with Alex Bangura in the 79th minute.

The result means a second defeat for English-man Peter Butler’s side in Turkey as he hailed the Sierra Leone resilient.

“I want to congratulate Sierra Leone for a tough encounter – it is refreshing to see Sierra Leone bringing so many young lads from England,” he said during his post-match interview.

“In games like this, we played them to identify talent in the process of building a new squad, but I was proud of my players’ effort.” It was great to see Sierra Leone trying to play good football first half was even, but we played better in the second half.”

Coach Keister was pleased but admitted it was a tough game.

 “I think it was a difficult game, but we are both in the same direction in the process of identifying players. At times is not about winning. I am happy for the team and Amadou Bakayoko because this will give him confidence moving forward.”

“Introducing some of these new lads around African football temperament, how to cope with that, is never easy. However, there is a lot of positive looking at the feature.”

Sierra Leone will wrap up their friendly games against Congo Brazzaville on the 29th of March while Liberia takes on Burundi on the same day.

SLFA Media in Antalya, Turkey.