Sierra Leone’s football has again been hit with a match-fixing allegation as the national team Captain; Sheriff Suma revealed an attempted match-fixing request made by unrecognized officials from the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DR Congo) Football Association.
Sierra Leone lost their final Group D clash against DR Congo 3-1 in Lubumbashi but the situation surrounding the team’s preparations and performance did not please the country’s Sports Minister, Paul Kamara who has called on the Sports council to conduct an investigation on the said match.
Prior to this major bombshell there were several allegations accusing some of the players of involvement in an attempt to fix the said match which prompted the Swedish based left-back Sheriff Suma-who captained the team against Ivory Coast in Abidjan and DR Congo to speak up.
Sierra Leone lost their final Group D clash against DR Congo 3-1 in Lubumbashi but the situation surrounding the team’s preparations and performance did not please the country’s Sports Minister, Paul Kamara who has called on the Sports council to conduct an investigation on the said match.
Prior to this major bombshell there were several allegations accusing some of the players of involvement in an attempt to fix the said match which prompted the Swedish based left-back Sheriff Suma-who captained the team against Ivory Coast in Abidjan and DR Congo to speak up.
The Syrianska IF Kerburan player admitted he had a chat with a man name Aziz who said he was sent by officials from the DR Congo Football Federation.
“I was in my room after dinner when one of my teammates called me saying there is a guy who wants to speak with the captain. I asked him who he was and what he wanted; my colleague at this time informed me that he knew the guy played football in Portugal,” Suma explained and continued: “We started talking and went on to play a pool game together and after that he (Aziz) said he want a private talk with me and I asked him if he is trying to get me to play for a club in Portugal but he responded with a smile and said maybe before he revealed he was sent by his FA.”
According to Suma, Aziz requested for Sierra Leone to lose the match 5-0 because there was no way they can qualify.
“He said if we can allow Congo to defeat us 5-0 we will not qualify. My words to him were simply and short. We are here to play football and we are not here to lose any game no matter what we going to play for our pride and he shook my hand and said captain I love your attitude and dignity,” Suma explained.
The former Åtvidabergs FF and Ravan Baku players dismissed the match-fixing allegation exonerating his teammates in the process after all the rumors that had been swirling around.
Meanwhile, efforts to get the reaction from the DR Congo Football Federation were futile as all emails sent to their respective contact; fecofa_sg@yahoo.fr and dircom@fecofa.cd were never replied to.
“I was in my room after dinner when one of my teammates called me saying there is a guy who wants to speak with the captain. I asked him who he was and what he wanted; my colleague at this time informed me that he knew the guy played football in Portugal,” Suma explained and continued: “We started talking and went on to play a pool game together and after that he (Aziz) said he want a private talk with me and I asked him if he is trying to get me to play for a club in Portugal but he responded with a smile and said maybe before he revealed he was sent by his FA.”
According to Suma, Aziz requested for Sierra Leone to lose the match 5-0 because there was no way they can qualify.
“He said if we can allow Congo to defeat us 5-0 we will not qualify. My words to him were simply and short. We are here to play football and we are not here to lose any game no matter what we going to play for our pride and he shook my hand and said captain I love your attitude and dignity,” Suma explained.
The former Åtvidabergs FF and Ravan Baku players dismissed the match-fixing allegation exonerating his teammates in the process after all the rumors that had been swirling around.
Meanwhile, efforts to get the reaction from the DR Congo Football Federation were futile as all emails sent to their respective contact; fecofa_sg@yahoo.fr and dircom@fecofa.cd were never replied to.
By: Sahr Morris Jr.
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