MONROVIA, Montserrado – The Sierra Leone Football Association has confirmed their participation in friendly match with the Lone Star of Liberia on Sunday, July 22. The confirmation from the Sierra Leone Football Association comes a month after Liberia requested the friendly match as part of the Independence Day celebrations.
Liberia’s request to Sierra Leone for the special match was confirmed to The Bush Chicken by deputy minister for youth and sports, G. Andy Quamie, who said the communication was sent and the football house was only waiting for the confirmation.
Now that Sierra Leone has agreed to participate in the friendly encounter, it means the two countries will play for the 16th time when the match kicks off on July 22. Liberia has proven supremacy over their Leone Stars counterparts with eight wins and four draws while Sierra Leone has managed just three victories.
The two teams’ most recent encounter was on June 5, 2017 at the Antoinette Tubman Stadium in a FIFA international friendly. Former LISCR FC striker Christopher Jackson scored the only goal to help Liberia grab a narrow win.
According to a release by the Sierra Leone Football Association via their official website, a 25-man delegation is expected to land in Liberia this week to grace the occasion.
The match will be the first for newly appointed interim coach of the Lone Star, Thomas Kojo, who is expected to use mostly local players. Kojo might struggle with his selection of players with the local league yet to play since the end of the 2017-18 season in August 2017.
With Kojo yet to announce his team for the friendly encounter against Sierra Leone, it’s believed that the former Barrack Young Controllers technical director will use the team that just participated in the WAFU U-20 nations cup that was hosted in Liberia.
Liberia finished as runner-up after being beaten by Gambia 2-1 in the final. One of Kojo’s task as head coach of the national team is to build a young team for the future and using the U-20 team won’t come as surprise to Liberian football fans who have been eager to see a young team on the pitch.
Featured photo by T. Kla Wesley
