by FSL News | 24 Jun, 2017 | International, National Sport News Sierra Leone
Fresh from their 2-1 victory over Kenya in the African Nations Cup qualifier in Freetown on June 10, the Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA) and Sports Ministry are now focusing their attention to the African Nations Championship qualifiers, CHAN.
Sierra Leone will start its quest to reach Kenya 2018 when they take on the Teranga Lions of Senegal in the first leg qualifiers on the weekend of 14-16 July before travelling to Dakar for the return fixture the following week.
And according to the Team Manager, Christian Dauda, (pictured), both bodies are committed to ensuring that the country excels in next month’s doubleheader.
“I can confirm to you that SLFA and the Sports Ministry are working harder to help the head coach Abubakar Tostao Kamara and the rest of the technical excel against Senegal next month,” Dauda said and admitted that the Senegal tie is going to be another tough outing in Freetown but upbeat the boys can pull through another good result.
“Is going to be a tough game against Senegal as always in African Football, no match is an easy game. But, I have to trust the technical department to assemble the best of our home talents,” he said.
The passionate Team Manager also commends the senior team for their notable victory over Kenya. “I want to appreciate the senior squad after a job was well done over the Kenyans, Dauda added.
“Defeating the Harambee Stars was the only way forward to kick-start our Cameroon 2019 qualifying campaign. However, the SLFA and the Government have set a new focus on the forthcoming continental event,” He told footballsierraleone.net.
The CHAN – is a tournament for locally-based African players featuring in their own country’s domestic leagues – will be staged in Kenya from 12 January to 4 February 2018.
The winner of the double-legged tie will face the winners of the Guinea-Bissau and Guinea clash in the second round with the first leg billed to take place between 11 and 13 August, and those of the return leg the following weekend.
Kenya 2018 (also referred to as CHAN 2018) will be the 5th edition of the African Nations Championship.
Sierra Leone was knocked-out from the 2016 tournament in the preliminary round by Mauritania thanks to a 4-1 aggregate win. The Mauritanians won the first leg 2-1 at the Nouakchott Stadium and six days later they registered a 2-0 victory at the same venue.
The home-based Leone Stars chose to host their home leg in Nouakchott because Sierra Leone was unable to host international games due to the Ebola outbreak in the country which forced an international ban on all football and sporting activities in the country then.
In 2014, Sierra Leone was eliminated from the qualifiers in their own backyard by Guinea. The Guineans forced Sierra Leone to a 1-1 draw at the National Stadium in Freetown as the first leg in Conakry ended in a goalless draw.
Senegal, on the other hand, has participated in the final phases of CHAN in 2009, 2011, 2014 and 2016. In 2014, they were eliminated by Mauritania (1-0 and 0-2) and in 2016; it was the Guineans who pushed them away.
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by FSL News | 23 Jun, 2017 | International, National Sport News Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone skipper and FC Zurich defender Umaru Bangura (Pictured with Sports Minister Ahmed Khanou) believes Leone Stars have enough quality to reach the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon.
Bangura, 29, is calling on the football authorities to get their act right for upcoming matches in Group F.
Since 1996 in South Africa, Leone Stars have not qualified for the Nations Cup. That was 21 years ago, however, the skipper is upbeat they will bounce back in 2019.
Sierra Leone in Group F together with Ghana, Kenya and Ethiopia and sit second behind Ghana who thrashed Ethiopia to go top of the group after the opening qualifying matches.
Bangura, scored one of Sierra Leone’s goals as they overcome Kenya 2-1 in Freetown on June 10 in their most recent qualifier.
“I’m confident that with good preparation we’ll qualify for the AFCON finals,” Bangura told the BBC.
“We don’t want any late preparations.
“We want players to be available at the right time for early training and play friendly matches against top-class African teams.
“I’m calling on the Sierra Leone FA and sports ministry to prepare us well for the remaining fixtures.”
In August 2016, Bangura signed a three years contract with Swiss second-tier side FC Zürich, since then he has been a pivotal figure in the Zurich club automatic promotion back to the Swiss top flight.
Bangura scored his first and only league goal in Zurich 5-0 thumping of Wohlen at the Niedermatten Stadium on Sunday 2 October 2016.
He will be playing in the Swiss top flight next season after helping the Zurich city club to automatic promotion.
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by FSL News | 23 Jun, 2017 | Players Abroad News
Al-Taawoun FC, of the Saudi Professional League, have confirmed signing Sierra Leone international and DC United striker Alhaji Kamara.
The Saudi side announced on their official Twitter account today that they had signed Alhaji Kamara for an undisclosed fee from Major League Soccer side DC United.
Kamara, 23, who scored hat-trick playing for Richmond Kickers on loan from DC United, will continue his trade in the Saudi Arabian top flight division.
Kamara has appeared once for United this season, a 14-minute stint at Orlando. While on loan at Richmond Kickers in nine appearances Kamara scored four goals, including a hat-trick against Ottawa on May 27.
The former Norrköping forward scored the fastest goal on his MLS debut in 33 seconds against Sporting Kansas City for DC United, after a congenital heart condition derailed his European career.
He was cleared to resume his career after further testing from US-based doctors; the initial medical test confirmed he was suffering from a congenital heart disease, a deviation of the coronary arteries.
The 5 ft 11-inch striker made eight appearances – starting twice for DC United last Major League season.
In Sweden, he was clinical when playing for Norrköping in the Swedish Allsvenskan scoring 21 goals in 48 games in all competitions.
In 2015, he was loaned to Malaysian side Johor Darul Ta’zim F.C. but was recalled to IFK Norrköping in July 2016, where he scored seven goals in thirteen appearances to help the Swedish side win the league.
Capped four times for Sierra Leone, he began his career with local club FC Kallon, before signing on loan with Swedish first division side Djurgårdens IF in 2012 and eventually signing with IFK Norrköping in 2014.
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by FSL News | 23 Jun, 2017 | African News
Egyptian winger Mohamed Salah has officially signed for English Premier League side Liverpool FC and was presented by the club on Thursday.
According to reports, the deal is believed to have cost around £36.9million — eclipsing the £35m spent on Andy Carroll in 2011.
He said: “I’m very excited to be here. I’m very happy. I will give 100 per cent and give everything for the club.
“I really want to win something for this club.”
The Liverpool new boy insisted he’s much better equipped to take the Premier League by storm during his second spell in England.
The Egyptian winger failed to make his mark in the capital after Chelsea beat the Reds to his signature three-and-a-half years ago.
Salah made just 19 appearances for the Londoners before being off-loaded on loan to Fiorentina.
Since then his career has been on an upward curve. He went on to flourish at Roma – scoring 19 goals in all competitions last season.
Asked if he was a better player now than when he was at Chelsea, Salah told LFCTV: “100% yes. They have paid a lot of money for that!
“Everything, even my personality is different. I was a kid then, just 21. Now, four years on, I have a baby and everything is different.
In the 2016/17, the 25-year-old had his best-ever season since going professional, scoring 19 goals in all competitions for Roma, despite missing almost a month and a half due to his participation with the Egyptian national team at the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).
At the AFCON in Gabon, Salah was involved in four of Egypt’s five goals with two goals and two assists as he led the Pharaohs to the final, where they lost 2-1 to Cameroon.
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by FSL News | 21 Jun, 2017 | African News
Cameroon head coach Hugo Broos has emphasised that only a victory against Australia in their 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup Group B match in Saint Petersburg, Russia on Thursday will keep them in the tournament.
The must-win tie kick-off 17h00 at the Stadion Krestovskyien between Cameroon and Australia.
Broos stressed: “If we don’t have a victory against Australia it’s finished for us. We know what to do but it’ll be a tough game.”
The African champions were defeated 2-0 by Chile in their first Group B match on Sunday, while Australia lost 3-2 to Germany on Monday. Belgian tactician Broos is now eyeing a win over Australia.
“I hope we start the game better than we did against Chile,” Broos told the media at a press conference according to BBC.
“The first 20 minutes were almost disastrous and if we didn’t have a bit of luck on our side, we could have been 3-0 down.
“I hope against Australia that from the first second of the game we will seek to dominate,” he said.
“I’ve seen a few games of Australia and there is a lot of enthusiasm in the team, a fighting spirit, so it’s a very difficult team to play against.
“But again we’ll need to be on our highest level if we are to beat them, and we have to beat them to keep up our chances to go further than the first round. It’s a different style than three days ago when we played Chile,” he added.
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by FSL News | 19 Jun, 2017 | Players Abroad News
Icelandic Pepsi Top Division: Kwame Quee took his tally to 2 goals for the season by opening the scoring for his side on Monday.
Quee’s side the Ólafsvík-based club downed Stjarnan 2-1 in the Icelandic top flight as they registered only their second victory in eight games in the league this season.
The Sierra Leone International, fresh from helping Leone Stars overcoming Kenya opened the scoring in the 15 minutes from a well-executed counterattack.
The home team doubled their lead just after the restart – Gudmundur Steinn scored following a high ball forward, Thorstein was quite huge. He received amazing reception for the way he brings down the ball to make a great pass for G.Stein who put the ball crossed the line.
Quee, who was making only his fifth appearance, was again impressive but wasted a few chances perhaps he could have converted, Hilmar Halldórsson in the 85th scored the consolation goal for the visitors.
First, from bottom UMF Víkingur returns to action on Monday June 26 when it travels to face KF Víkingur Reykjavík away from home at the Vikingsvollur stadium.
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Sierra Leone | Highlights -