The Sierra Leone national football team is not commonly discussed within Egyptian circles. It is widely known that the closest Sierra Leone has ever come to winning the African Cup of Nations was when they qualified for the tournament in 1994 and 1996, and in both instances, were eliminated in the first round. Since then the country has not qualified for the African Cup of Nations or won any silverware. A recent move by SLFA saw the installation of former Sierra Leone international Christian Cole as the country’s new coach. Cole’s appointment as coach, which came only few weeks to the encounter with Egypt, has left some Sierra Leoneans breathing a sigh of relief. Cole first served as coach of Leone Stars in 1989 for the Amilcar Cabral sub-regional tournament in Mali, and was also in charge of the team during the qualifiers of the 1992 Nations Cup in Senegal, and the 2002 World Cup qualifiers against Liberia and Sudan. As preparation for the upcoming match, Cole has summoned a 15-man foreign-based squad including AC Milan youngster Rodney Strasser; Kei Kamara (Kansas City Wizards); Mohamed Kamara (Partizan Belgrade); Mohamed Bangura (Sweedish Champions AIK Solna); Gibrilla Sankoh (Augsburg Germany); and Albert Jarrett (Lincoln City). The dreams of many Sierra Leoneans rest on these few.
Egypt on the other hand is the success story of African football since the inauguration of African Nations Cup. They won the first tournament hosted by Sudan in 1957, and went on to host and win the following tournament in 1959. Since then, Egypt has won the trophy in 1986, 1998, 2006, 2008, and 2010. In January 2010, Egypt set a new record for not being defeated in 19 consecutive African Cup of Nations matches. They also won their 9th consecutive match in the African Cup of Nations, beating Ghana in the finals and becoming the first team to win 3 consecutive ACN titles. These are impeccable records that are yet to be challenged by an African nation.
But the Sierra Leone national team will not be deterred by these achievements. We have come together as one nation both home and abroad blessed by a new momentum and we hope for the best display of our national team in recent times. Proof of our momentum in sports is the newly endowed Craig Bellamy Foundation Academy, founded by 30-year old Welsh-man and former Manchester City striker Craig Bellamy. The foundation, which offers 5-year scholarships to young children aged 11 and above the opportunity to reach their true potential through sports, will be the breeding ground for true national talents in the years to come.
On Sunday, we the Sierra Leoneans in Egypt with march to the Cairo national stadium with peace and love in our hearts for our host nation. We also expect this match to reignite collaboration between the two countries in sports. Sierra Leone had a record of professional footballers playing in Egypt. From late number one Sierra Leone goal keeper Brima Attouga Kamara (El-Mansoura) to Ismael Dyfan (Haras El-Hodood), Chernor Mansaray (Al-Ahly), Amidu Karim (Suez Canal), Mohamed Dabundeh (Ittihad, Alexandria); Abubakarr Jalloh (Ittihad, Alexandria), and former National Captain Abubakar (Tostawo) Kamara (Ismaily and Haras El-Hodood), Sierra Leone has provided Egypt with some of the finest players to ever play for the Egyptian Premier League. On her part, Egypt has extended greater ties with Sierra Leone, providing the country with peace-keeping troops during the country’s rebel war, and investing heavily in the Sierra Leonean economy in the aftermath of the war. Diplomatic ties have also been reestablished after the long closure of the Sierra Leone Embassy in Cairo with an appointed Egyptian acting as Honorary Consul for Sierra Leoneans in Egypt. The two African nations are experiencing a high peak in their bilateral cooperation, and the football match on Sunday is expected to solidify these relations. This match will also be used as a stepping stone for the small Sierra Leonean community in Cairo to introduce themselves to the panoply of Egyptian society and gain recognition for our small African nation. Sierra Leone should count on our support, and we expect to come out heads high flying the green, white, and blue in the largest metropolitan city in Africa. God bless Sierra Leone, and long live the dream.
