Sierra Leone’s National team, the Leone Stars yesterday evening arrived at their camping based for their final Group I encounter with Les Elephant tomorrow afternoon.
Sellas Tetteh and the rest of his side from their week long camping in Ghana checked into Hotel Residence Elephant (Leone Stars camp) and they will be taking a full squad training session today.
The Saturday’s clash that is expected to be played in the Ivorian city of Bouake will determine which team competes in the continental big stage next year in Gabon.
Leone Stars will be going into this tie second behind Ivory Coast, that make this tie a do or die encounter for Sierra Leone away from home.
Leone Stars have never defeated the Ivorians in their last seventh attempts; however, Les Elephants endured a frustrating time against their West African counterparts Sierra Leone as they were held to a 0-0 draw in Port Harcourt Nigeria in their 2017 qualifying Group I match-day 2.
This will be the eight meetings between the two sides. Ivory Coast has an edge over Sierra Leone, having won all five and played to a goalless draw of their previous matches.
Meanwhile, the Elephants head coach, Michel Dussuyer is cautious to face Sierra Leone at the Stadium of Peace Bouaké.
When asked about the strengths of his Ivorian side against Sierra Leone, Dussuyer said: “We must score goals. The Sierra Leone team is well organised.
“They can defend well and they can be very aggressive. We have already had the opportunity to play against this team. They are coming to win.”
Dussuyer added, “The ideal scenario is to score an early goal and this forces them to come out of their base and will leave a little bit of space.
“Although the Sierra Leone is quite playful, they have the quality, and can cause problems in our defence,” Dussuyer remains cautious.
Previous Results:
15 Oct 1972 Sierra Leone v Ivory Coast W 0-1 FIFA World Cup
29 Oct 1972 Ivory Coast v Sierra Leone W 2-0 FIFA World Cup
08 Jan 1984 Ivory Coast v Sierra Leone W 1-0 International Friendly
27 Mar 1994 Ivory Coast v Sierra Leone W 4-0 Africa Cup of Nations
06 Sep 2014 Ivory Coast v Sierra Leone W 2-1 Africa Cup of Nations
14 Nov 2014 Sierra Leone v Ivory Coast W 1-5 Africa Cup of Nations
06 Sep 2015 Sierra Leone v Ivory Coast D 0-0 Africa Cup of Nations
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