May 19, 2017 By Sahr Morris Jnr
Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA) and the Ministry of Sports have on Thursday, May 18, 2017, named and unveiled John Kesiter as the new coach of the country’s senior national team, Leone Stars.
The former Sierra Leone international has been handed the responsibility to take full charge of the national team until the end of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign, while his assistant coach, who is also a former Leone Stars international, Abubakarr Tostao Kamara, will take full charge of the home based Leone Stars.
According to the SLFA General Secretary, Chris Kamara, decision to appoint the former Walsall, Shrewsbury Town, Stevenage and Chester City midfielder, was taken by both the F.A Technical department and the Executive Committee of the SLFA.
“My appointment is a dream comes true. We have a massive job to qualify the team to Nations Cup finals, a task we must work very hard to achieve,” Keister said, as he admitted it was an emotional day for him.
The 46-year-old has served as Leone Stars assistant coach to three foreign managers – Swede Lars Olof Matsson, Northern Irishman- Johnny Mckinstry and later Ghanaian -Sellas Tetteh.
He said: “Working with three foreign coaches has given me the experience and knowledge to be in this position. The task given to us is about result and points and we must work together as a team to achieve that.”
Keister had previously served as head coach of the Leone Stars home based team, as well as the Sierra Leone under-17 and under-23 national teams. He was capped 16 times for Sierra Leone between 1997 and 2003 and made his debut in 1997 against Morocco in Freetown.
The other members of the new look Sierra Leone national and home-based teams include; Abubakarr Tostao Kamara Amidu Karim, John Sama, John Junior Konneh, Prince Tamba Moses, Philph Kor.