Liberia: Good News for the Lone Star?

The latest move by the Lone Star follows after their 1-0 win against the Central African Public (CAR) in the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers

By Jacob Yoko Harris (Intern)

The 2023 AFCON qualifiers for the Lone Star have taken another turn after the CAF dropped Zimbabwe from their group.

The Warriors suffered an indefinite ban in February of this year by FIFA for government interference in football activities in Zimbabwe. The government of Zimbabwe appointed SRC to suspend the Zimbabwe Football Association (Zifa) board, headed by Felton Kamambo.

However, CAF did allow them to partake in the 2023 AFCON draw for the qualifiers, which starts in June. 

FIFA gave the Sport and Recreation Commission (SRC) a two-week ultimatum before the first qualifier matches to meet FIFA’s demand, which included the reinstatement of Kamambo and his board for the ban to be lifted. Unfortunately, they were unable to meet FIFA's demand. 

Sources also confirmed that they were filing an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS), which could lead to the ban being suspended and allow them to participate in the qualifiers until the CAS could finalize the case.

Now that CAF has dropped Zimbabwe from the qualifiers, the Lone Star of Liberia will face Morocco and Bafana Bafana of South Africa. The dropping of the Warriors has not changed anything in the group. Two teams are still expected to qualify from this group.

The Lone Star has not qualified for the AfCON finals since 2002. And will have to take this as an opportunity to qualify this time, for the Ivory Coast finals 2023. Zimbabwe Warriors have been one of Liberia’s toughest opponents. The two teams met 4 times with Liberia accumulating 1 win and 1 draw and Zimbabwe winning the rest.

It may look good for the Lone Star if preparation is done well for the team participation in the upcoming qualifiers.

Meanwhile, the Lone Star has not been able to move to camp for about two weeks now. It can be recorded that the technical staff, headed by coach Peter Butler, shortlisted 30 local based players to move in camp to begin preparation for the qualifiers, where they will be joined by their international counterparts. As it stands, the National Team is yet to move to camp.

According to the Liberia Football Association (LFA) president, Mustafa I. Raji, it is due to the government’s delay in releasing funds requested by the LFA that is intended for the senior national team’s camp. This has caused a serious delay in the team’s preparation, which could further cause harm for the team participating in the 2023 AfCON qualifiers.

Speaking on state radio, the LFA president made it clear that the team has not gone to the George Weah technical center in Careysburg, Montserrado County, the designated area for the team’s preparation. But he further lamented that they are having regular practices at the Samuel Kanyon Doe Sports Complex practice pitch in Paynesville.

With the elimination of the Zimbabwean National Team by CAF, the Lone Star will now open her qualifiers against Morocco in June. Head coach Butler and his technical staff are yet to name their full squad against the Moroccans. As most leagues are coming to an end across Europe, it is expected that coach Butler will soon avail his squad’s listing for the matches against Morocco and South Africa, respectively.