Sierra Leone U20 head coach Mohamed Lamin Kamara spoke after Sunday’s goalless draw against Zambia in their opening match of the CAF TotalEnergies U-20 Africa Cup of Nations.

Reflecting on the result, Kamara admitted that no team wants to start a tournament without a win. He said: “𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔𝒏’𝒕 𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝒖𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒅𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒊𝒄𝒌 𝒂𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒄𝒆𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒎𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔.”

The head coach emphasized the need to understand why, despite dominating possession, his side struggled to score. Looking ahead, Kamara acknowledged the challenge of facing hosts Egypt but remained determined. “𝑻𝒐 𝒂𝒅𝒗𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆, 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒅𝒆𝒇𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒕 o𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒆𝒍𝒅. 𝑾𝒆’𝒓𝒆 𝒖𝒑 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒆. 𝑶𝒖𝒓 𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒈𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒖𝒔 𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒚 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒓,” he added.

Meanwhile, IF Bromby goalkeeper Mamadou Wurie Jalloh, who made his CAF U-20 Africa Cup of Nations debut, expressed satisfaction with his performance. Wurie backed his team to go all out for wins in the upcoming matches, confident they can reach the next round of the tournament.

Sierra Leone’s next match is against the host nation Egypt, who defeated South Africa at the Cairo International Stadium on Sunday, topping the table.