Monrovia – The Amputees National Football Team of Liberia has won the 3rd place in the 2019 African Amputee Nations Cup played in Angola.
The three-time African Champions came from a goal down to beat Tanzania in the 3rd place match 2-1 at the NAC Benguela Stadium in Angola on Friday, October 11, 2019.
It was the 22-year-old striker, Matthew Joe, who secured all three points and the 3rd place trophy for Liberia as he netted both goals in the second half.
Liberia conceded in the early minutes of the game but was hopeful until the closing minutes of the second half to secure a win.
The one legged Lone Star team, started the tournament on a poor footing with a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Nigeria in their opening match on October 4, 2019 but bounced back strong in their second match with a 2-0 victory over Tanzania on October 5th before settling to a 1-1 draw with Sierra Leone to secure a semifinal spot again host Angola but the Red, White and Blue lost 1-0.
After the third place match, the head Coach of Liberia Amputees National football team, Victor Benson in conversation with a team of journalists covering the 2019 Amputees Africa Cup of Nations said the result is just the beginning of the new era of the Amputees national team.
Meanwhile, this present amputee team is a brand new team that is being built. The previous team of players, who had won the three continental trophies, had all absconded when they visited the United States of America some years back.
“We just trying to get another team but to achieve such result it tells us that we are getting there”.
“3rd place is not a bad result for such a young team but remember, we promised championship earlier and with that, I believed is about time we welcome this result and later go for the bigger ones when the team is well prepared,” Benson said.
Host Angola was crowned champions of Africa after defeating Nigeria 2-0 in the grand finale.
3rd place winner was given medals for the 18 delegates.
The Liberian team is expected in the country later this week.