While most of Major League Soccer was taking a well-deserved breather last weekend, Kei Kamara was a witness to one of the most bizarre events in world soccer in recent memory.
With Sierra Leone and South Africa tied on nine points and trailing Niger by a single point with a final Africa Cup of Nations qualifier remaining, the two nations met on Saturday to decide who would move onto the 2012 tournament in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.
Unfortunately for Kamara and the Leone Stars, who have not qualified for the tournament since 1996, Niger’s 3-0 defeat against Egypt and their scoreless draw against the Bafana Bafana meant they were stuck on the outside looking in once again.
“I can’t say we’re disappointed that much,” Kamara said. “We worked really hard to put our country in the position we’re in right now.
On the other hand, South Africa assumed they had forced their way into the tournament over Niger based on goal differential, leading to a jubilant celebration on the field at Nelspruit’s Mbombela Stadium.
What they apparently weren’t aware of, however, was that the first tiebreaker was based on the team’s head-to-head results, meaning Niger were in and South Africa had rejoiced prematurely.
“Their celebration was awesome,” Kamara said. “It was brilliant watching all the dances and all that. After we got back to the locker room, we heard that they didn’t qualify, which was also awesome and brilliant.”
Sierra Leone’s only salvation was to play for the win, but Kamara said South Africa wasted time during the last 15 minute of regulation in a clear attempt to salvage the draw that they assumed would put them through.
Still, just like everyone else in Mbombela Stadium, Kamara said he and his teammates simply assumed that South Africa had qualified by the skin of their teeth.
“We had no idea,” he said. “They said Niger lost and South Africa qualified. We just laid down on the field and soaked everything in [while they celebrated]. It was beautiful but unlucky for them. But the way they played the last 15 minutes and celebrated, I don’t feel bad.”
And even though Sierra Leone failed to qualify for the tournament, Kamara said the future is only getting brighter for a country whose development has been stalled by of civil war and internal unrest.
As much as it may have hurt to see such a prime opportunity go begging, the Leone Stars won’t have much time to dwell on it.
Qualification for the 2014World Cup begins in January with a match against the Cape Verde Islands, and their relative success in CAN qualifying raised hopes in Sierra Leone and moved the nation into 68th in FIFA’s worldwide rankings and 16th in Africa.
“We’ve showed signs for the future,” Kamara said. “Hopefully, we can qualify for the next [Africa Cup of Nations] or the World Cup coming up. We have our hopes up. The team is very young and we have a good coach so we’re just looking to keep building.”
