With both countries preparing for the first leg encounter of the 2019 African Cup of Nations qualifiers, the Vice President of the Liberian Football Association (LFA), Musa Shannon has hinted that modalities are being put in place for a friendly encounter with Sierra Leone possibly at least few days before both teams play their respective matches on June 10th and 11th.

Sierra Leone’s Leone Stars are billed to play against the Harambee Stars of Kenya in Freetown during that weekend while the Lone Stars of Liberia will be flying to Harare, Zimbabwe to clash with the Warriors of Zimbabwe in their Group G opener.

Shannon made this disclosure during a radio interview with UN Radio in the Liberian capital, Monrovia on Monday.

Sierra Leone have not kicked a ball since they last failed to qualify for the AFCON 2017 in Gabon.

Leone Stars last encounter was against Les Éléphants of Ivory Coast in Abidjan and it ended in a 1-1 draw. The Lone Stars of Liberia, on the other hand, lost 1-0 to Leone Stars next month’s opponent Kenya November 15, 2016, at the Moi International Sports Centre in a friendly test.

Fans of both countries have questioned what they considered to be serious preparation gap for a huge tournament like this.

A friendly for both countries is, therefore, a welcomed idea though it also comes with fears that players run the risk of suffering from injuries they might not be able to recover from in time for the June 10th and 11th games.

Sierra Leone head coach John Keister, whose first task will start with a 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against the Harambee Stars of Kenya in Freetown on 10 June will welcome the Liberia test.

Liberian on the other hand will use the Leone Stars tie as homework ahead of their away trip to Zimbabwe five days after on June 11 in Harare.

Meanwhile, Kenya have recently played Uganda to a 1-1 draw (March 23), defeated DRC 2-1 (March 26) and held Malawi to a goalless in April as part of their preparations for the qualifiers and the Football Kenya Federation are still in search of one more test match before facing Sierra Leone, after their June 4th friendly with Palancas Negras of Angola to be played in Machakos cancelled.

Follow the writer @bittar32/Contact bittar@footballsierraleone.net

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