Football frenzy
By David Krueger
Saturday was probably the most fun that I’ve had in Sierra Leone. The day featured a pretty important football game between the Sierra Leone Stars and Egypt Pharaohs. Maybe you heard about it.
I had the distinct pleasure of helping cover the game for Awoko. I had been asking about the game since the week I arrived, and made it very clear that I would love to help out in any way I could on September 3rd.
The newspaper helped facilitate my request, further proving that my job is awesome.
Bernard Turay, the Awoko sports reporter, and I headed to the field around three p.m. It was already crazy outside the National Stadium, with people (who may or may not have had tickets) fighting to get past security (and their big metal doors) and into the field to see their hometown team play the defending African champions.
Once we finally got in and down to the field, I felt like I was in heaven. I just walked around the field taking pictures. I snapped everything. I got images of both teams warming up, as well as the crowd jumping up to cheer.
I got a picture of me in the players’ tunnel and even found some friends up in Section 17 and captured a few shots of them waving.
The pregame events were fun as well, with Sierra Leone Vice President Alhaji Sam Sumana and Brazilian football legend Marta making appearances at the game.
However, as much fun as the afternoon was, nothing could top the excitement that was about to come.
From the first whistle on it was loud and exciting in the National Stadium. It only got crazier in the 14th minute when Sheriff Suma put the Stars ahead with an incredible corner kick that bended toward the goal, deflected slightly off an Egyptian defender, and found its way into the back of the net.
Then it became one big party in Freetown.
Water packets (and whatever else fans happened to have in their hands) rained down onto the pitch as Sierra Leoneans celebrated their lead.
Unfortunately, the party only lasted about a half an hour. Egypt equalized right before half to stun the crowd and send them into a somber mood during the break.
By the 70th minute everyone in the stadium was getting a little antsy. Fights were erupting between supporters as they watched patiently for someone to break the tie.
When a close Sierra Leone corner kick failed to yield a goal, there was a universal “oh” that echoed throughout the stadium. Everyone stood up, seemingly just so they could throw their arms down in frustration.
That frustration finally ended in the 88th minute. Mohamed Bangura, aka “Poboski,” was breaking toward the goal when he was taken down from behind by a defender, while in the penalty box.
The referee signaled for a free kick and I never heard cheering so loud in my life. If I didn’t know any better I would’ve thought the Stars had just won the game, but I was pretty sure they still needed to take the lead.
One minute later they had that lead, and three minutes after that they had the win. The stadium (and country) proceeded to go crazy.
In the United States there’s a popular saying among sportswriters who like to think they are completely unbiased toward the team they are covering: “there’s no cheering in the press box.”
Fortunately, I wasn’t sitting in the press box. I was sitting in the stands with the rest of the fans, as they stormed the field before the game had even officially ended. As they cheered, I cheered. Not only did Sierra Leone pull out a win, but they did it with quite a bit of drama and tension.
Eventually, I made it onto the field as well. This was good and bad. It was good because I had to cut across the field to get to the locker room to interview players and coaches. It was bad because I had to sneak through a riot that was developing at midfield.
With Bernard keeping me close, we moved swiftly across the pitch, dodging fighters and debris. We finally made it through the tunnel and into the locker room, where another party was going on. I tried to talk to the head coach, but he was busy celebrating with players.
After briefly chatting with Ibrahim Tetah Bangura, who claimed he “knew we would win,” I was able to find the man of the hour, Poboski himself. I don’t think you could have taken the smile of his face if you tried.
“I’m so happy,” Poboski said. “We have been suffering for a long time.”
Then Poboski said what everybody in Freetown already knew: “There’s going to be a big party tonight.”
My interviews were cut off, as the team celebrated and prepared to leave before the mob of fans outside the locker room were able to break the door down. Feeling a little sad that it was all over, we took off for the Awoko office.
On the way back we got caught up in an impromptu victory parade. The highlights were a guy doing backflips in the street (while moving with the pace of the parade, which I found very impressive) and a little kid with a lisp who was screaming “Egypt suxth.”
Horns were honking, traffic was all but stopped and nobody seemed to care. It was time to celebrate!
The 2-1 victory in the African Cup of Nations qualifier means Sierra Leone is in a better position to qualify for the final round of the tournament, which could land them in Brazil for the 2014 World Cup. A friend and I are planning (actually “hoping” might be a more appropriate verb) to go to that tournament.
We made a deal last year to go to the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics, both in Rio de Janiero.
Later on (i.e. Sunday) I had some time to digest what I had witnessed the night before. The more I thought about it the more I realized what an incredible spectacle I had seen.
After some careful consideration, I’m pretty sure I’m ready to declare Saturday the most exciting moment here. I think it overtook the feeling I had getting off the airplane right around the time Poboski rocketed the ball past the Egyptian goalkeeper.
It was so exciting because both teams had something to prove. Egypt, fielding a particularly young team, wanted to show that they belonged in the tournament, and fought hard the entire game.
On the other side of the pitch, Sierra Leone had one of its strongest teams ever, and wanted to show it could win a game it should win and continue its quest to keep playing games all the way up to the next World Cup in Rio de Janiero.
With any luck I’ll be in Brazil in the summer of 2014. If they keep playing like they did on Saturday, the Sierra Leone Stars just might be there with me.
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