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Sierra Leone: Freetown Leone Stars Rise in World Ranking
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Concord Times (Freetown)
7 August 2008
Posted to the web 7 August 2008
Sahr Morris Jr
According to the official monthly ranking released yesterday by the football governing body, FIFA, Leone Stars has climbed up three places from previous month's ranking.
Ranked 137th in July, Leone Stars have now moved three solid places up in this month's ranking to occupy the 134th position to level with The Bajan Pride of Barbados.
In June, Leone Stars ranked 163rd and moved to137th in July ranking. This was not a surprise to many football-loving Sierra Leoneans after the team put up an outstanding performance in their 2010 Nations Cup/World Cup qualifying matches.
Even though the team lost to Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria in the 2010 Nations Cup qualifiers, they made a comeback in their group four log as they defeated South Africa at home and held them to a goalless draw in Pretoria.
This has however raised the team's hope of qualifying for the next stage of the 2010 Nations Cup/World Cup qualifiers.
With plans in the pipeline for the team to start preparation for their return leg encounter with Equatorial Guinea in Freetown on September 9, coach Ahmed Kanu said the ranking implies that the team's performance has been outstanding.
However he added that though he is not relying on the past success of the team to guarantee Leone Stars' continuous accomplishment, he is aiming to qualify the team to the next stage of the qualifiers.
"My priority now is to qualify the team for the next stage of the 2010 Nations Cup/World Cup which I will personally start counting as a progress for my boys," Coach Kanu said.
For Leone Stars' group four opponents, Nigeria fell a place downward and are now ranked 27th in the world; South Africa too fell five places to be ranked 73rd but on the other hand, Equatorial Guinea climbed three places to be ranked 81.
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Elsewhere, Spain maintained the lead in the top followed by Germany who deflated Italy to third position.
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