‘Another Opportunity to Showcase Liberia’s Football Talents’

Throwback: Coach Keita provides instructions to his players during a friendly in Sierra Leone

Coach Ansumana Keita has another opportunity  to display the level of work being done with the youth national teams in the coming weeks, as a new breed of players are set to represent Liberia in the WAFU Zone A U15 Nations Cup.

Liberia is set to host the 2022 WAFU Zone A U15 Nations Cup in Monrovia that will run from August 18-20. Six nations, including Liberia, Cape Verde, Sierra Leone, Senegal, The Gambia, and Mail, are expected to compete in the three-day tournament.

Ahead of the tournament, Coach Keita has called-up 38 players for a three-day training session, after which 25 players will be selected to move to camp at the George Weah Technical Center beginning August 8.

During the last edition, Keita and his former U15 players, who have been promoted to the U17, finished third in Group two after a win, draw, and one defeat from three games. After the tournament, Keita and his boys gained the admiration of the fans for the impressive ball possession-based style of play, "tao tao", introduced at the youth national teams level.

The admiration deepened after the U17’s 2-0 win against Morocco in an international friendly at the Antoinette Tubman Stadium in Monrovia and their three wins out of four friendlies during a tour in Austria. The spectators’ admiration for the youth teams is not based on the results from matches but based on the improvement of the players’ skills, talent, and self-confidence.

This resulted in an increase in calls from spectators for the Liberia Football Association (LFA) to appoint Keita as Head Coach of the Senior national team. However, others disagreed with the call, as they believe that Keita should remain with the grassroots teams to develop more local talents in the country.

Players called-up 

Gideon Crawford, Darius Browne, Moses Toe, Emmanuel Flomo, Stanley Swah, Prince Toe and Uriah Bannah (MFA LEAD); Prince Kpanneh, Abel Tucker, Abu B. Jalloh, Leroy Dorwazia and Abenigo M. Gborlee (On Goal); Frank Pah, Lawrence Morris, Beyan Yoko and Lee K. Zeogar (Nation One); Jerome Moore, Ezekiel Grano, Trokon P. Jimmie and Sundaygar Moses (Jaijoma).

Others include Junior Scott, Alexander P. Morris, Edward Larmouth, and Cyrus Fred (Gar’ou FC); Rashidi B. Williams and Lawrence Roberts (Junior United); Mohammed K. Kamara and Mohammed Dukuly (City Football); Ralph Weah and Henry Yonton (Tebeh FC); Mark Fazzi and Dearer Glayweun (CYP), Melvin Sherman (Joebar FC), Ezekiel Fatorma (St. Paul), Samuel Bando (Kpeh Kpeh FC), William Gould (Sam Johnson FC), Alvin Maccualey (Liberia Football) and Wahee Morgan (Stages FC).