May 26, 2021
By: Mohamed Abu Conteh
Sierra Leone Under-15 side has on the 22nd May 2021 ended up in the fourth position in the WAFU U-15 Tournament after a final 4-1 defeat against host Guinea.
The Sierra Leone U-15 side arrived in Conakry Guinea last Friday in the early hours of the day to start their first match against Mail; they were thrashed by (7- ) goals to nil.
The Head Coach of the Sierra Leone Under-15 team, Abu Sankoh, was optimistic that his side would have made a breakthrough in the tournament picking hope from their 1-1 draw against Liberia in the Mano River Union (MRU) tournament hosted in Sierra Leone.
Coach Sankoh said it was a difficult task for the boys considering the fact that there has been no youth competition in the country for many years. However, he said he was only able to get these boys through scouting across the Country but they were not able to perform. He further indicated that the experience acquired from the international stage will help a lot in their future campaign.
The young under-15 lads started their campaign on Friday 21st May 2021 when they were humiliated with seven goals to nothing by the Mali U-15 team.
On Saturday 22nd May 2021, they suffered another 5-1 loss to the Liberia U-15 team.
The Sierra Leone delegation to the tournament (twenty players and six officials) has returned home at the start of the week.
According to one sporting pundit: “this was is the first time a youthful side has faced such humiliation…”
He recounted the last time the U-17 side and U-20 side both suffered poor campaign in Senegal where they were also humiliated and eliminated in the group stages.
The head coach for the national team, John Keister said if we are to get a strong National Team at all categories as a nation there is need to embrace grassroots football.