The head coach of the Sierra Leone national team, John Keister feels confident in his team’s chances of beating the Super Eagles of Nigeria again despite the absence of some of his key players.
At 5 PM WAT on Sunday, June 18, the Super Eagles of Nigeria will meet Sierra Leone at the Samuel Kanyon Doe Sports Stadium in Liberia for the 5th match of 6 in the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
In the first leg of the tie on June 9, 2022, the Super Eagles beat the Leone Stars 2-1 in the Moshood Abiola National Stadium in Abuja to maintain a commanding lead in the push for the 2023 AFCON qualification.
On Sunday, the Leone Stars who are currently sitting on the 3rd spot of AFCON qualifiers Group A, would hope to get a stunning victory over Nigeria who are currently leading the group with 9 points in 4 games, two points above second-placed Guinea-Bissau.
Interestingly, Sierra Leone’s head coach, Keister was a member of the Leone Stars team that famously defeated a star-studded Nigerian squad that included Austin Okocha, Sunday Oliseh, Finidi George, Nwankwo Kanu, and Julius Aghahowa.
The country recorded the stunning 1-0 victory over the Super Eagles on April 21, 2001, in Freetown, Sierra Leone, during the 2002 Korea/Japan World Cup qualifiers.
In a video posted on Sierra Leone Football’s federation Facebook page, Keister highlighted the possibility of leading the country to achieve a similar feat against the Super Eagles on Sunday.
He said, “We know how difficult it can be in football, but then again I am not one for excuses, I just believe in doing the work and concentrating on what we have to do and doing it to the best of our ability because that is all that matters.
“We are going there (Monrovia) to compete and that is a fact. We are not going there to lie down, this is a time when I don’t really need to tell the players the significance of the game because they should understand that and should relish the challenge of coming up against Nigerian players that are doing very well abroad.
“I remember in 2001, I was part of the Sierra Leone team that beat Nigeria 1-0 and this was when no one expected anything from us. I have that feeling again with this team going to Liberia to face Nigeria, despite the challenges we have with players suspended, several personal issues and injuries, that we can do it again.”
He added, “We can’t afford to show them too much respect and that is a fact in football. It is about how badly we want it and how much we can motivate the boys and trust them to go and perform. As I said, they have some good players doing well abroad, but it is about how we approach the game and we will go into the game with a very strong mentality as we have always done.”
