Sierra Leone’s head coach John Keister is not shying away from the fact that his side must win against Nigeria to rekindle hopes of reaching Ivory Coast 2023.

Having secured five points from four matches in the ongoing qualifiers, the technician backed his side to turn up against the three-time African Champions when the two sides lock horns at the SKD in Liberia on Sunday.

Speaking to Football Sierra Leone, the Manchester-born acknowledged that his young side must be positive in their approach over 90 minutes from kickoff.

“We know this is a match that we need to win, and therefore we have to be positive in our approach against a difficult Nigerian side – and we will definitely be.”

“We are a young group, but there is just this feeling that we can come here and get a result against Nigeria. It’s going to be a fight – we are ready to deal with whatever is thrown at us. Football is about the day who wants it the most.”

Sierra Leone to host the Group A leaders at the SKD Stadium in Liberia on June 18th. Nigeria won the first meeting between the two nations 2-1 at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja, on 09 June 2022.

Sierra Leone Stars have played all their home games in the race to Ivory Coast on the road away from Freetown, with no suitable ground in their country to host international matches.

Guinea-Bissau topped Group A of the qualifiers with ten points after five qualifying matches, followed by Nigeria with nine, while Sierra Leone is third with five points.

In seventeen meetings between the West African nations, Sierra Leone only managed two wins, ten defeats and five draws. 

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