{"id":3083,"date":"2022-01-18T15:40:18","date_gmt":"2022-01-18T15:40:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/?p=3083"},"modified":"2022-01-19T18:03:42","modified_gmt":"2022-01-19T18:03:42","slug":"forward-planning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/2022\/01\/18\/forward-planning\/","title":{"rendered":"Forward Planning"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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By Satish Sekar \u00a9 Satish Sekar in Morocco (October 12th<\/sup> 2021)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Preparations<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Thomas Brima has succeeded Isha Johansen as President of Sierra Leone\u2019s Football Association, ending a tumultuous process, which initially had Johansen slated to contest the election that was overdue. She withdrew after winning a seat on the FIFA Council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brima is an ambitious man. His plan is not to rest on the laurels of qualification for the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON). He is not satisfied with getting out of the group \u2013 a tough one that consists of defending champions Algeria, currently on Africa\u2019s longest unbeaten run, double AFCON champions la C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire (1992 and 2015) strangely both on penalties at the expense of Ghana and Equatorial Guinea. He aims to win the tournament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is why the Leone Stars are in Morocco \u2013 that and to see the impressive facilities here in Morocco such as Sal\u00e9\u2019s Mohammed VI Football Complex (see Built to Win<\/strong>). It is far from the only thing in Morocco that Brima was interested in. Juventus have an academy in Morocco. The facilities in Morocco are among the best in Africa \u2013 there\u2019s no doubt about that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Qualifiers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With Africa\u2019s World Cup Qualifiers entering the business end, some countries had other priorities \u2013 next January\u2019s Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON). Sierra Leone, fresh from the controversial qualifier against B\u00e9nin and a change at the top of the Sierra Leone Football Association, had three matches in Morocco \u2013 South Sudan, the Gambia and Morocco\u2019s B team, latter two being the most difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was part of their preparations for AFCON. It started early and showed how seriously they were taking the tournament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Preparations<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Leone Stars sought to extend their unbeaten run from 5. A 1-1 draw on October 6th<\/sup> against South Sudan was followed by a 2-1 win against the Gambia. Strangely, the Gambia was their jinx team. Their last win over the Gambia was over 15 years ago, although there was only one match between then and now. Their previous win was 20 years earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But history doesn\u2019t win matches. And nor does intimidation. The Gambia\u2019s Belgian coach, Tom Saintfiet barked orders from the touchline. Pity was some was aimed at the officials, led by Moroccan referee, Bouchra Karboubi. She had a good game and wasn\u2019t taking any nonsense. Nor were her assistants which included Fatiha Jermoumi. Saintfiet was fortunate not to be cautioned or worse. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Assan Cessay gave the Gambia the lead from the penalty spot after Alhassan Kei Kamara had squandered an earlier opportunity to put the Leone Stars ahead from the spot. But Gambia\u2019s lead only lasted a couple of minutes. Kamara equalised and Saidu Fofana scored the winner just before half time. Kamara owed his team as not only did he fail to score the penalty but conceded one too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sierra Leone did not have any World Cup qualification matches, but the visit to Morocco important. Brima had plans. What were his realistic plans for the Africa Cup of Nations? \u201cTo win it,\u201d he answered. Brima does not intend to witness his team making up the numbers. He has big plans. Watch out for the Leone Stars at AFCON next year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Satish Sekar \u00a9 Satish Sekar in Morocco (October 12th 2021) Preparations Thomas Brima has succeeded Isha Johansen as President of Sierra Leone\u2019s Football Association, ending [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16],"tags":[111,107,105,106,110,109,108],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3083"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3083"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3083\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3102,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3083\/revisions\/3102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}