Ibrahim Sillah returns to the Netherlands without Mohamed Salah’s shirt. The ACV midfielder did not gain any points from the showdown between his home country Sierra Leone and Egypt. The West African country lost the World Cup qualifying match 2-0.
When he left for Sierra Leone early last week, Sillah, who started on the bench against Egypt and came on after just over an hour, said he was eager to get his hands on Salah’s jersey. “But that was difficult,” he says, referring to the chaos after the match on the field and off it.
In the final stages, spectators stormed onto the pitch and attacked Liverpool’s star player. Salah also suffered blows. Teammates and stewards had to protect him. Accompanied by soldiers, Salah left the field of the Samuel Kanyon Doe Stadium in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, where the match was being played.
Two red cards
Both goals were scored by Mahmoud Trézéguet of Turkish club Trabzonspor, the latter after an assist from Salah. The shooter distributed his hits neatly over both halves. Sierra Leone-Egypt was a physical match, in which Sillah’s team eventually turned into a team of nine. Tyrese Fornah, who plays for the English club Derby County, received a straight red card just before the break. Just before the end, Abdul Kabia (two yellow cards) was sent off another Leone Stars player.
Also four days earlier in the international match against Ethiopia (0-0), Sillah had to content himself with coming on as a substitute in the last half hour. “Of course you want to play ninety minutes, but it was a wonderful experience. It is very special to play for your own country. Many people from Sierra Leone had also come to Liberia. That just made it even more special.”
‘Salah is only human’
“It was a great match,” Sillah continues. “We started very fanatically and driven and had plenty of opportunities to score. We were not lucky and Egypt also has a very good goalkeeper (El Shenawy). What was my experience playing against Salah? You quickly forget that you are on the field with him. You want to win and you are working hard to make that happen. And Salah is only human.”
The first two qualifying matches for the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico earned Sierra Leone one point. With six points, Egypt is in the lead in group A, which is further formed by Guinea-Bissau, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia and Djibouti. Sierra Leone will play its next World Cup qualifier on June 3 next year. Djibouti is then the opponent.