Leone Stars of Sierra Leone will commence their journey to the finals of the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations (“AFCON”) in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda 2027 when they host The Warriors of Zimbabwe on Thursday September 24 at the Stade Ben Ahmed El Abdi in Morocco.
It’s the start of Sierra Leone’s newly appointed French coach Didier Gomes Da Rosa’s assignment as the West African nation seeks a return to the African football major tournament for the fourth time in their history.
The meeting with Zimbabwe will be the first time the two Nations will come face-to-face in an official or competitive match and Da Rosa’s first since being given the nod over others.
Sierra Leone will look to new faces like Ra’ees Bangura-Williams an exciting forward from Cambridge United, and Azeem Kerr Abdulai from a Scottish Premiership club,
Hibernian FC.
The 23-year-old Glasgow-born midfielder, like Bangura-Williams, and defender MJ Kamson-Kamara from Kilmarnock will also be in line to make their Sierra Leone debuts.
In his quest to get off a flying start, the Sierra Leone French coach named 22 foreign-based players and three home-based players in his 25-man squad and he earlier told journalists that his decision to include more foreign-based players was influenced by his scouting visit to London together with Technical Director John Edward Keister.
He noted that the selection was based on experience and current form, expressing confidence that the chosen squad will make Sierra Leoneans proud.
However, coach Da Rosa was forced to withdraw England-based midfielder Hindolo Mustapha and US-based defender Emmanuel Samadia from his plans after the pair were reported injured.
The Crystal Palace attacking midfielder, who is currently on loan at EFL League One club Notts County was replaced by midfielder Kallum Ceesay of EFL League Two club Salford City. Defender Samadia was replaced by Alex Bangura of Middlesbrough.
The Warriors on the other hand, were also left to battle with the injury curse in their camp with two key players; Tino Kadewere and Prince Dube, having been dropped after they picked up knocks at the weekend.
Warriors coach Ramon Catala yesterday responded, calling the Premiership top goal scorer Washington Navaya, and also made a surprise pick when ZIFA announced Dynamos’ winger Leroy Mavunga will be joining the rest of the squad in Casablanca ahead of Thursday’s Group E opener.