–WHAT’s NEXT?-
By Mohamed Kamara
The Leone Stars qualifying match victory against their archrivals, the SQUIRRELS of Benin in the neighboring Republic of Guinea in the month of June continuous to be greeted with a great sense of appreciation, full of Joy and jubilation by Sierra Leoneans at home and abroad of all cadres.
But as a football critic, I ask: Would this joy continue until the finals in Cameroon or is it temporary or long lasting?
There are indeed reasons for Jubilation, but for some patriotic reasons, one would like to outline the defects of Leone Stars and if it is not addressed seriously, will later have a U-turn. These defects I will refer to as lack of proper team management.
There was one unnoticeable act on the integrity on Africans and Africans football, which no one at the time of going to Press mentioned.
The organizer of the African Football qualifying series which are FIFA represented by the (CONFEBERATION AFRICAN DU Football (CAF) Interpreted in English as the African Football confederation representing the World Football body has not prioritized African football television Rights to be equal like their European Football counterparts. The voiceless Folly of CAF is noticed on the single fact that in European Football of all competitions, Football technocrats give percentages of Football Possession Shots on Goal, Covers, Fouls and Man of the Match. In African Football, all is left with the general public to argue and end up with no reasonable points.
For Leone Stars, for, the African Cup of Nations to come home, we have to cross five Rivers or five places. The eliminatory Series of First 32, Second 16, Third 8 Fourth 4 and Five the two finals. You cannot underestimate Leone Stars because Football ends up with the unexpected always. It is therefore neither too early nor too late to point out the lapses of Leone Stars in the last encounter technically speaking.
We were dominated by Benin on ball possession, shot on goals, Conner kicks, and Foul Plays. Collectivity among Leone Stars was not in place followed by a weak midfield which saw the squirrels attack in place. Our thanks are due to perfect defense collectivity with kudos to the center back that displays skills on both head and feet.
The goalkeeper was the man of the match, as he took position accurately to save the sporadic shots on goals. Our attackers could only grace the occasion from balls supply from our defense which met with a sharp respond from the Beninese defense line.
