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Seattle Sounders FC’s youngest Homegrown Player, Victor Mansaray, has announced his decision to play for Sierra Leone. Earlier this year, Mansaray stated that he would be open to playing for Sierra Leone if they came calling.
It appears that they have called.
Mansaray, currently on loan with FC Cincinnati of the USL, was signed as the Sounders fourth-ever Homegrown Player. He has a total of three appearances for the Sounders senior team and a total of 35 with S2 with five goals scored.
For the 2017 season, he has made eight appearances — three starts — but has yet to make much of an impact as he has no goals and no assists in just 265 minutes.
He had previously played for the United States at various youth international levels, most recently with the U20s during the Four Nations tournament that took place back in October 2016. He featured twice in that tournament with one start and one substitute appearance.
Sierra Leone has only qualified for one World Cup — 1994 — and had to withdraw before playing. They have not played in the full Africa Cup of Nations since 1996. They are getting ready to start qualifying for the 2019 tournament and will face Kenya on Saturday in their first match. Ethiopia and Ghana are also in their qualifying group.