By Kabs Kanu
The night that Equatorial Guinea dumped Sierra Leone out of the Africa Nations Cup, many Sierra Leoneans all over the world went to bed without eating their suppers or dinners. In the full agony of defeat, Sierra Leoneans at home and abroad lost appetite not only for food but many of life’s necessities. It was one of the most disappointing nights ever in the history of Sierra Leone.
As it happened in Freetown two years ago against Liberia in the World Cup qualifying showdown, Sierra Leone had a late penalty kick that could have changed the story and given the nation glory , but we missed it again. Just as it happened against Liberia, the opposing goalkeeper saved the penalty . And the man who missed it, veteran Kei Kamara, suffered the same fate that the missed penalty taker against Liberia, Skipper Ibrahim Zingaley Bangura underwent—Gangs of angry and frustrated youths attacked his home to vandalize it in Freetown. If Police had not mobilized to defend it, Kei Kamara’s home would have been razed to the ground.
After Kei Kamara’s miss and Sierra Leone’s eventual elimination from a major football competition in which they had flattered the world to deceive, all the colorful plans put together by thousands of Sierra Leoneans, maybe millions, throughout the country to shake the nation with jubilation , went to waste. All the pot covers that had been assembled together to use to make that grinding jubilation noise were returned.
Sierra Leone paid the price once again for her footballers’ inability to score from the penalty spot. If Kei Kamara had not missed and his shot had kissed the back of the net , Sierra Leone would have made history by qualifying for the second round of the competition for the first time. The world was at their feet after the turned the competition on its head in the first two matches, drawing with Africa’s defending Champions Algeria and two-times winners Ivory Coast in a group rightly deemed THE GROUP OF DEATH. Also, the qualification would have opened a lot of doors on the international arena not only for the players but the country. But alas, it was a dream too hard to achieve.
President Maada Bio too lost a very big opportunity at history yesterday. Let us face reality. If Sierra Leone had made it to the second round under his leadership, nobody would have denied him the big glory. If Kei had scored and Leone Stars had qualified , he could have rightly claimed credit that it happened under his presidency.
The lessons we must learn from this most heart-wrenching disappointment are many. Coach John Keister kept tired players on the pitch who should have been substituted. It was clear that many of the players were fatigued, and were not at their best as they had been against Algeria and Ivory Coast, but the coach refused to make the necessary changes for reasons best known to himself. There were many young, fresh and energetic players on the bench raring to go, but the coach decided not to use them. We have to give our youngsters equal opportunities to excel.
It was also noticed that the Leone Stars team was tactically configured to play defensive football and why such a negative formation , only the coach knew. Two of our best strikers who could have made a big difference–Alhaji Kamara , who scored twice against Nigeria in that historic 4-4 draw away in the preliminaries and the equalizer in this competition in the 2-2 draw with Ivory Coast, and Buya Turay were kept on the bench. It was a tactical blunder for which the nation paid a painful price. There was no need for the inferiority complex of choosing defensive football over launching an all-out attack on the opponents. After all, we had the firepower. Our West African neighbors Guinea , Gambia, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast and Nigeria qualified because they controlled their matches. They did not hang in there waiting for strange fortune to help them draw. They played to win their matches. Leone Stars did not control any of their matches.
Good coaches also practice penalty and free kick routines seriously during training. They apportion these roles to particular players and train them rigorously and even harden their nerves for those duties. Leone Stars penalty kickers have shown a tendency to lose their nerves . This should not continue. Sierra Leone once had magnificent penalty shooters like the late Veteran Boye Johnson and Alusine Terry Choosing penalty kickers should not be at a whim as we saw against Liberia and Equatorial Guinea when it mattered most. There must be well-trained crack shots for that role.
Sierra Leoneans must also learn to deal with frustration. Football, like life, is a game of chance, and the best teams do not always win. We must therefore learn to rejoice with our players even when they lose. Attacking the homes of players who blunder or miss penalties is a show of gross indiscipline and ungratefulness and the government needs to clamp down on this menace speedily. It will discourage players from sacrificing for the nation. The muted reception granted the team when it returned home from the competition was also worthy of condemnation. We should have mobilized thousands of people to storm the airport to welcome the players home. After all, though they did not qualify for the second round, their heroic performance deserved a heroic welcome home .
We lost a huge opportunity but it is not the end of the world. We must regroup, recruit more promising players, train them better and prepare for the next World Cup and Africa Nations Cup qualifiers. Leone Stars have created the pace, momentum and platform for better achievements next time. May the Leone Stars continue to shine.
