SIERRA LEONE'S SOCCER GIANTS STUN NIGERIA AND MALI

Feathers are in short supply in Sierra Leone as soccer fans celebrate the astonishing victories scored by two of the nation's leading teams in the Africa Champions League last weekend. Following up on their immaculate display in Nigeria where they played a bruising 0-0 draw with that country's reigning champions, Ocean Boys, FC Kallon last Saturday flushed the Nigeria out of the continental competition by beating the Ocean Boys 1-0 at the National Stadium in Freetown. And ace Waterfront Giants , Ports Authority , gave nothing away, playing remarkable football on Sunday to whip Mali's Champions A.S. Bamako, 1-0 on away grounds in Bamako , to join Kallon in the second round of the continental champions slugfest. Ports licked them 2-0 in the first leg in Freetown . This is not the first time that a Sierra Leonean team has stunned Nigeria, anyway.In 1982, Sierra Fisheries eliminated the highly-famed Enugu Rangers from the same Champions League. Fisheries beat them 1-0 in Lagos and 1-0 also in Freetown before a Mayele-led FC Bilima of Zaire shattered the nation's dreams in the next round. In 1981, the same Fisheries defeated New Nigeria Bank ( NNB) in the WAFU Cup. Mighty Blackpool, defying overwhelming odds, reached the quarter-finals of the Africa Champions League in 1986.

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