YEKEPA, Nimba ─ ArcelorMittal Liberia (AML) has broken grounds for the construction of a community townhall and football pitch in Camp-four Township, Yekepa.

The combined estimated value of both projects is US$100,000.

It was a joyous moment for scores of community leaders and the township commissioner as well as District #3 Representative, Joseph Somwarbi, who expressed appreciation to AML management for the two projects and other programs that are benefitting residents of the area.

The projects are part of several community developments and Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives by ArcelorMittal Liberia, meant to promote community social development through stronger partnerships.

Performing the official groundbreaking for the projects, ArcelorMittal Liberia Chief Executive Officer, Jozephus Coenen said he was excited about the partnership between the company and Camp-four township to undertake key development projects, and assured ArcelorMittal’s continuous support to other meaningful projects to achieve the aspirations of communities.

CEO Coenen said he was pleased with the high level of involvement and representation of all stakeholders, including the women and youths of the township.

“As you know, we have already started the construction of the concentrator, to take our production up to 15mpta and then further up to 30mpt. It will generate a lot of value for us. It is not only ArcelorMittal. We also have to share that value through employment and training for Liberians who will become the future operators of the concentrator,” he said.

Camp-Four Township commissioner Rebecca Mulbah expressed gratitude to the management of ArcelorMittal Liberia for funding the construction of the townhall and football pitch, which she said will benefit residents of the area.

Meanwhile, Nimba District #3 Representative, Joseph Somwarbi, praised ArcelorMittal for the two projects, noting that they were evidence of a new day for the company and the people of its mining-impact communities.

“I am very proud to see that you have come again for us to continue to work on a very good footing. You’re again doing things we want you to do,” Rep. Somwarbi said.

“Once our people are happy, we will also be very happy with you. The joy of our people is the joy of us.”

He said the new approach of the company and its senior management team to visit and interact with people in its mining operation communities makes the locals feel part of them.” When completed the football pitch is expected to be a major assembly point for young people in Camp 4 and other nearby village and will help to promote peace and unity and healthy living through sports.

Monrovia – As Liberia prepares for thick and fast international fixtures, Coach Peter Butler has invited 30 local players to begin training this Friday, 29 April at the SKD Practice Pitch in Paynesville.

The decision of the Brit and his technical staff has come following AFCON 2023 draw which was held in Johannesburg on Tuesday, 19 April and the CHAN draw which was held recently.

Watanga center half Amara Kamara who joined from the Championship mid-season and won the 2022 ORANGE National 1st Division League made the provisional cut, while fellow teammates Farsedu Logan and Kelvin Barclay are also in.

Muscat’s Emmanuel Reyah is in following his inclusion on the trip to Turkey last month, and there are call-ups for rookies Clifford Togba and Mason Goe both of Cece United who won the 2nd Division league and automatic promotion to league one next season.

1st Division top goal scorer Prince Zawoh of Nimba United gets the nod of Butler, while teammate Divine Teah was also inclusive.

Bea Mountain’s Ketu Jerbo and Edward Ledlum are in and there is a place for 2nd Division top scorer Mark Yallah of Muscat.

Liberia were zoned in Group K of the AFCON 2023 Qualifiers with 1976 African Champions Morocco, the 1996 winners South Africa and Mozambique who have had four previous appearances at the tournament.

The qualifiers of the 2023 AFCON start just over a month’s time.

Below is the full complexion of Butler’s provisional 30 players that starts training this Friday at 10:00Hrs GMT..

GOALKEEPERS: SONGO’S, Tommy (LISCR), SEMBEH, Allenton (Bea Mountain), JULU, Derrick (Watanga), YEANAYE, Junior (Nimba Kwado)

DEFENDERS: GAYE, Fred (M.C. Breweries), NAGBO, Prince (Nimba Kwado), WILLIAMS, Carlos (Watanga), KAMARA, Amara (Watanga), MANTOR, J osephus (Nimba Kwado), KAMARA, Kemoh (Bea Mountain), DWEH, Sampson (LPRC Oilers), REYAH, Emmanuel (Muscat), KENNEDY, Prince (Mighty Barrolle), TOGBA, Clifford (Cece United)

MIDFIELDERS: GOE, Mason (Cece United), NYUMAH, Saah (Invincible Eleven), BARCLAY, Kelvin (Watanga), KNOWLDEN, Josephus (Watanga), LOGAN, Farsedu (Watanga), ANDREW, Nicholas (Mighty Barrolle), NYANAMAH, Julius (Nimba Kwado), LEDLUM, Edward (Bea Mountain), JERBO, Ketu (Bea Mountain), ALLION, Frank (Freeport FC), TEAH, Divine (Nimba FC)

FORWARDS: YALLAH, Mark (Muscat), ZAWOH, Prince (Nimba United), DWEH, Patrick (Freeport), FREEMAN, Chauncy (Watanga), FREEMAN, Gibson (Freeport)

Monrovia – The Lone Star got what appears to be the toughest pairings at the 2023 African Cup of Nations draw on Tuesday, April 19, 2022.

Liberia was drawn alongside Morocco, Zimbabwe, and South Africa in the 2023 African Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifiers for the tournament taking place in the Ivory Coast in May and June next year.

On paper, the penultimate qualifiers for Ivory Coast 2023 ought to be a difficult zone for Liberia but given the strides otherwise, minnows have made in the beautify games, it may turn out a tricky one for Morocco and South Africa.

South Africa was seeded in pot 2 during the draw conducted in Johannesburg on Tuesday evening by Bafana legend Lucas Radebe and former Ivory Coast and Chelsea forward Salomon Kalou.

Peter Butler’s men were pooled in Group K with the tournament starting on 30 May.

The Lone Star has failed to reach the Afcon since 2002. and will be hoping to qualify the biggest competition in Africa.

Liberia first appearance at the Nations cup came in 1996 when South Africa hosted the tournament and made their second showing in Mali 2002.

South Africa who failed to qualify for the 2022 Afcon in Cameroon, won by Senegal, recently faced Zimbabwe during the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, which Bafana Bafana won 1-0 at home and drew 0-0 away.

Zimbabwe, however, have recently been suspended by FIFA but still formed part of the draw.

Morocco’s only Afcon title came in 1976 and their best finish since was second in 2004.

Liberians are hoping their national team will make it to the finals of the tournament that will take place next door Ivory Coast.

The top two finishers in the group qualify for the 24-team tournament. 

Below is Liberia’s head-to-head records vs their opponents for the 2023 AFCON qualifiers.

Morocco 

Liberia and Morocco have met three times. Liberia lost two and won one. Liberia scored three goals and conceded nine.

1981- Morocco 3-1 Liberia

1981 – Liberia 0-5 Morocco 

 1987 – Liberia 2-1 Morocco 

 Zimbabwe 

Liberia and Zimbabwe have met four times. Liberia won one, lost two and drew one. Liberia scored two and conceded seven.

2010 – Liberia 1-1 Zimbabwe 

2011 – Zimbabwe 3-0 Liberia

2017 – Zimbabwe 3-0 Liberia

2019 – Liberia 1-0 Zimbabwe 

 South Africa 

Liberia and South Africa have met twice. Liberia lost one and drew one. Liberia scored two and conceded three.

2000- South Africa 2-1 Liberia

2001- Liberia 1-1 South Africa Africa

Below is the full draw.

Group A: Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Guinea-Bissau, Sao Tome e Principe or Mauritius

Group B: Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Togo, Eswatini

Group C: Cameroon, Kenya, Namibia, Burundi

Group D: Egypt, Guinea, Malawi, Ethiopia

Group E: Ghana, Madagascar, Angola, Central African Republic

Group F: Algeria, Uganda, Niger, Tanzania

Group G: Mali, Congo Brazzaville, Gambia, South Sudan

Group H: Ivory Coast (hosts), Zambia, Comoros, Lesotho

Group I: Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Mauritania, Sudan

Group J: Tunisia, Equatorial Guinea, Libya, Botswana

Group K: Morocco, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Liberia

Group L: Senegal (holders), Benin, Mozambique, Rwanda

Monrovia – The race for who becomes the next vice president for operations of the Liberia Football Association seems to be tough following the official release of the candidates’ list.

The LFA electoral committee gave three aspirants the green light in March to contest the VPO race.

Those qualified for April 18^th election include the president of the first division club Nimba United Saye-Tayor Adolphus Dolo, former Liberian Striker Bill Newray and current vice president for operations Wilmot Smith.

They were cleared to contest for the LFA vice president for operations after being scrutinized and cleared up by members of the Association’s electoral committee headed by Cllr. Jacob Dayrell.

With all the candidates lined up, much attention is on the VPO race where the three strong candidates are seeking the position.

Smith has come under the spotlight over the past few weeks due to alleged acts of corruption he has reportedly been involved with at the LISGIS where he also serve Deputy Director General.

Ahead of the election day Smith and Neewray were vocal about each other at a debate on Truth FM about the quality they bring to the position.

Wilmot F. Smith is the president of former second division outfit Georgia FC.

Smith who was elected with Mustpaha Raji in 2018 wants stakeholders to re-elect him based on the massive improvement they have brought to Liberian football.

It can be recalled that LFA president appealed to stakeholders to give him and his team of officials another mandate to continue their good work.

On his plans for the LFA Smith says the infrastructure works at the is something believe is enough reason for the home to be elected as Vice President for operations.

Smith has come under fire and will likely face bashing due to his overuse of power at the LFA.

It can be recalled Smith during the Under-17 friendly match with Sierra Leone stop Divine Teah from playing for the youth national team on grounds that the player was a player of Junior Professional FC after the players were loaned out to JR.Pro from Massa Football Academy.

According to the LFA VPO at the time the communication from the LFA stated that the player was a Massa Football Academy but he said the player was his player from JR. Pro.

He also stopped Samir Kamara of BYC in 2019 from practicing with the local national team on grounds that the players in question disrespected him in the past.

Bill Neewray a former footballer who represented Liberia shortly is hoping to use his connections to improve the game in Liberia.

I want to promote Liberian football internationally and locally,” Bill said.

According to the former striker as part of his contribution to foot all in Liberia, he has organized the annual diaspora tournament for the past six years and recently brought two-day coaching seminal to Liberia free of charge.

Neewray said he is best suited for the position based on his connections.

 The difference between me and the other candidates is I have international and local connections.

Adolphus Dolo, president, and owner of Nimba United has been in football for the past 13 years.

Dolo is a former Senator of Nimba County and former warlord is a passionate lover of football in Liberia.

The Nimba United president got into football because of his brother’s son Sunny boy Dolo who played for United for three seasons before moving to Fassell FC.

In his time in football Dolo has supported United alone and suffered suspension from Musa Bility because of his critical stand and has won the LFA league.

The big question now is with three very much qualified to be the next VPO who will be elected by the stakeholders.

Monrovia — As the April 18 date for the Liberia Football Association (LFA) elections draws closer, stakeholders will be pondering as to who will be elected to steer the affairs of the LFA for the next four years. It will be up to the eligible voters, mainly club presidents in the First and Second Division and affiliates of the LFA to take such a decision.

While the various candidates will be juxtaposed, looked at critically with track records, attitude and a host of other major issues meticulously analyzed, it’s expected to be anher historic electuons.

Already, incumbent president Mustapha Raji has the nod as he is unopposed which is quite picturesque of his good work in leading the campaign in transforming the country’s football after a dreadful and  unaccountable leadership under business man cum politician Musa Hassan Bility.

Now that it is an undeniable fact that the game here has reached an appeasing level, better than it was in the previous administration, one key administrator in the current administration of the LFA that helped immensely in  transforming the LFA is incumbent Vice President for Administration (VPA) Sekou Ayatola Konneh who is seeking re-election.  Vastly experienced with decades of promoting and developing Liberian football in various roles and as VPA of the LFA in the last four years, he worked with distinction, proved to be a useful assistant to the president Raji as he joined the rest of the Executive Committee ( EC) members in pushing the agenda of transparency in transforming  Liberian football.

with the famous quote in the corridors of football  “football money must be used for football”. It is glaring that such is been experienced under the current  LFA

The erudite administrator is someone  whose work for so many years continues to woo many admirers as Liberia football has made tremendous strides so far.

Financial transparency is visible with FIFA since lifting  the financial sanctions imposed on the previous leadership. The league is more attractive now than it was in previous administration, women’s football is experiencing transformation, regular training for coaches, referees, medics and others are there for all to see. This does not negate the fact that there are not challenges with the distance covered is less than the distance uncovered, but in truth, the current state of football umder this current administration is better than the previous administration.

Indeed, Mr. Konneh is the best bet  for the VPA post and is poised to retain the position as the project of continuity  must go on.

The highly respected administrator has maintained a cordial working relationship with Mr. Raji and co. and is an asset to the LFA who must continue in the drive to take Liberian football to the next level. A clam, amicable, hardworking professional who is not the undermining type of administrator and is a proponent of transparency.

It can be recalled that on March 7, 2021 during the official opening of the refurbished TUSA  field as a result of a FIFA forward 2 0, Chief Patron of sports; president George Manneh Weah, after heaping praises on Mustapha Raji and Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports, G.Andy Quamie, said this about Mr. Konneh ” “Men like Ayatola (Sekou Konneh), are roaming the streets of Monrovia everyday looking for talents” amidst applauds.

This was an endorsement by president Weah of Mr. Konneh whose works over the years deserve all the plaudits

Former Executive Committee member Rochell Woodson who was highly critical of Mustapha Raji as president of the LFA for the last four years noting she was coming to beat Mr. Raji as president in the soon to be held elections, has surprisingly somersaulted to register to contest for the position of VPA which is somewhat a plus to Mr. Raji and has been termed  by many stakeholders as an endorsement and despite all her criticism, she has now decided to be an assistant to the man she vilified for the last four years, something so strange many lenders averted

President Raji worked with a TEAM in catapulting Liberian football to another level with VPA Sekou Konneh, the most experienced of administrators playing a pivotal role.

Thus, stakeholders must once more elect Ayatola for another four years with another attribute of the veteran administrator been  unity and he has never been accused of tribalism in football, segregation and those vices that are inimical to the growth and development of the game, an ugly act others are shamefully engaged in.

Finally, Sekou Ayatola Konneh, the incumbent VPA of the LFA must continue contributing to the growth of the game in his current role and is best suited for the position for another four years

Monrovia – Liberia international defender Jamal Arago has expressed his joy at his inclusion in the latest Liberia squad.

Lone Star head coach James Peter Butler has named his 23-man squad for the upcoming three international friendly matches against Burundi, Benin and Sierra Leone in the European state of Turkey.

Arago who plays as left-back and central back is among the players who will be involved for Lone Star  and the 28 years old Liberian defender  is overjoyed at the decision.

Arago has played two times for Liberia so far in his career, and his performances for Azerbaijani club Sabail so far this season suggest that he will be part of the Lone Star squad for the 2023 African Cup of Nations group stage qualifiers.

The former Twente and Atromitos defender is playing well for Sabail FC who are at the bottom of the eight teams Azerbaijan Premier League with 11 points from 19 matches.

The Liberian defender  has made 6  appearances in the Azerbaijan Premier League for Sabail FC  so far this season in which they have won three games,  draw two and lost 14 matches.

Speaking to FrontPage Africa from his base in Azerbaijani Arago said he is delighted to get another call up to represent Liberia.

“It’s feel good to get invitation from the national team I am happy and will give in my best for the motherland,”

“After two games with the national team I believe we can do better with more games before the qualifiers, the team is young and with great talents,”  he told FPA.

According to Jamal he chose Liberia over Ghana because he wants to make an impact with the Reds just like other former Liberian players did.

“We can only hope this year the president will really get involved to motivate us because we are really wanting to make a big change together,”

“We are really talking about this and especially the opportunity the creator has given us towards going into the group stage qualifications for next year AFCON” he said.

The Ghanaian born Liberian said he can’t wait to play his first game on home soil, something that may take a longer time with Liberia’s home ground being banned by FIFA.

Liberia will face Burundi Benin and Sierra Leone, on the 24, 27 and 29 March, 2022 respectively.

All matches are scheduled to be  played in Antalya, Turkey.

Monrovia – The Liberia’s Petrol Trade cup enters the semifinal with some astonishing results.

The peak of the tie saw Invincible Eleven IE bowing out to second division outfit Muscat FC at the Samuel K. Doe Sports Complex Practice pitch.

IE who paraded five of their new signings with four foreign players making their debut but it could not help the yellow boys from going down 1-0.

Mark Yallah got the only goal of the match in the 83rd minute with a fantastic header to seal Muscat FC place in the last four.

Among the shocking results three of Liberia’s first division clubs made an embarrassing exit from the Petrol FA Cup after losing to second-tier sides Muscat FC, Nimba FC, and Tony FC.

On Wednesday Big spenders Bea Mountain, Monrovia Club Breweries were knocked out on penalty shootout while the oldest Football club Invincible Eleven bow out to second division outfit Muscat FC 1-0.

Bea Mountain who was considered favorite going into the match got the match on with new signing Sam Kollie hitting the back of the net in the 7th minute after Edward Ledlulm ball hit the post but Sam was in the right place to tip in from close range.

Tony FC down by a goal mounted more pressure on Bea Mountain but was unlucky to level things.

Thomas Barr made it 2-0 to the Gold Boys of Bea Mountain in the 26th minute from a brilliant Sam Kollie pass.

The second division side could have reduced the tally but their strikers were guilty of several wasted efforts

Sam Kollie effort saved by Tony shot stopper from a one-on-one situation.

With six minutes to the end of the first half Tony FC reduced the scoring line in the 39th minute with an own goal from Bea Mountain’s Monloney Manneh.

The second division outfit had the opportunity to draw the first half in the 44th but Emmanuel Dean made a decent one-on-one save.

Back from the break Tony mounted pressure for the equalizer but was guilty of wasteful scoring chances.

Bea Mountain was reduced to ten men after right-back Mono Golafaly was shown his second yellow card of the evening.

Tony FC captain Solomon Zeah came to the rescue of his side with a crucial clearance of a possible goal after Kollie got past the keeper.

 Edward Ladlium of the Gold Boys missed a clear chance to kill the game in the 84th minute but four minutes later Tony FC leveled things in the 89th minute to take the game to a penalty shootout which was won by the Tony FC 5-4.

Kemon Kamara was guilty of missing the only penalty shot out for Bea Mountain.

At the Tusa field Defending Champions Monrovia Club Breweries and second division side Nimba FC settled to a 2-2 draw but the second division club pulled a 5-4 penalty shootout victory over the Beer Boys to progress to the semifinal.

In the second match at Tusa Field LISCR FC defeated their first division counterparts Nimba Kwadwo 3-1.

Sam Jackson, Sheku Sheriff and Marlon Harris got LISCR’s goals while   Julius Nyanamah was on hand for the consolation goal.

Wednesday results mean LISCR FC is the only team from the top league that is in the last four of the competition along with Tony FC, Muscat FC, and Tony FC.

Monrovia — LISCR FC demolished, LPRC Oilers 5-1 in Gardnersville derby on   Sunday, February 13, 2022 at the Tusa field in Gardnersville.

The “Oil Boys” suffered a heavy defeat at the Tusa Field as LISCR record 5-1 win over arch-rivals with goals from  Dirkir Glay, Marlon Harrison, Sheku Sheriff, Rufus Padmore and Markey Morgan sealed the win for the shipping boys in the Gardnersville derby. 

The match was LISCR FC new coach Sam Chebli  first in charge of the club and the victory has put the shipping boys in contention for the title with 22 points from thirteen league games and now seated fourth on the table two points behind league leaders FreePort FC.

Defender Dirkir Glay opened the scoring for  LISCR in the first  half and winger Marlon Harrison doubled the hosts lead on the half hour mark to end the first half 2-0.

On return from the half time break, Benjamin Sackor reduced the Oilers deficit through a powerful strike in the 47th minute.  

But their aim of restoring parity in the game suffered a setback as a  61 min’ Sheku  Sheriff  brilliant goal from set piece restore LISCR two goals lead to 3-1.

Coach Sam Chebli’s men continued their dominance in the game after 74 minute when Rufus Padmore scored and got LISCR’s fourth goal.

Copper Sannah’s side fought to reduce the deficit but could not as LISCR FC took full control of the game with their high tempo game under new boss Chebli

Substitute Markey Morgan made it 5-1 to LISCR FC in the 82 minutes to end the match.

Sunday’s victory was the “Shipping Boy” first win in  four matches after two defeats to Monrovia Club Breweries, Nimba United and draws at Invincible Eleven and FreePort FC.

In other matches played over the weekend Freeport FC remained at top of the first division league table despite their goalless draw with Sandi FC.

Both Freeport FC and Sandi FC played to another goalless draw for the second time this season.

The Go Green boys sit at the top of the table with 24 points, one point above both Watanga and Nimba Kwado who are in second and third place respectively.

Sandi is now  10th place with 11 points.

Watanga FC 1-0 Heaven Eleven

Watanga FC narrowly secured a 1-0 win  over Heaven Eleven to move  second on the league table with 23 points.

The Yekepa based club who has won two games this season sits second from bottom on the log with 10 points from 12 league games.

Nimba Kwadwo 2-0 Invincible Eleven

Sanniquellie based club Nimba Kwado hope of winning the league continued with a convincing 2-0 victory over Invincible Eleven to move up the table to 3^rd place.

Boakai Balo and Marcus Paye got goals for Kwado.

The Sunshine Yellow boys of IE remains at the bottom of the league log with 9 points from 13 league gam

Nimba United 1-0 Bea Mountain

Nimba United continued their impressive form of the second phase with a narrow win over Bea Mountain.

The Mountaineers defeated the Gold Boys 1-0 at the SKD Practice Pitch with Prince Zawoh scoring the lone goal of the match to help the club collect all three points.

United moved to  eighth place on the log with 16 points, while Bea Mountain dropped from second place to fifth on the log with 21 points from the same game.

Varney  Dukuly brace was enough to give newly appointed Mighty Barrolle Coach Matthew Julutweh all three points.

The Rollers defeated Monrovia Club Breweries 2-0 at the Doris Williams Stadium in Buchanan Grand Bassa county.

The win has increased Mighty Barrolle point to 14 from 13 games and they sit at 9th place on the log, while Monrovia Club Breweries maintained their seventh place with 16 points from the same number of games.

Monrovia – FrontPageAfrica has been informed that players of the national  football team of Liberia are yet to receive their  winning bonus for the victory over Central African Republic in the World Club Qualifier match in November of 2021.

Lone Star on Tuesday, November 16, 2021  whipped the Wild Beasts of the Central African Republic 3 -1 in their final match in Group C in Morocco as they  collected  six points from six matches of the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.

Peter Wilson’s brace in the 8th and 72th minutes plus Marcus Macaulay two minutes’ goal were enough as the red, white and blue outfit collected all three points and finished 3rd in the group with Nigeria topping the group while Cape Verde finished second and CAR at the bottom of the group.

 The game was played in Morocco as a Liberia home match because the SKD sports Complex was banned by FIFA.

According to an agreement between the government of Liberia, the Liberia Football Association and the players, each player and technical staff will receive a bonus of one thousand United States Dollars for a home victory while an away victory is two thousand united states dollars.

The Bonus is intended to serve as extra motivation for the players when they are selected for a major competition match but since the players won the match the Government is yet to release said amount to the players.

Many of the players said they don’t know why it is taking too long for the government through the LFA  to  release their bonus.

The players who are mainly professional with some locals that were selected  for the  game further said  even though the amount they are to receive individually is not  much, it is good to live by  agreement.

“We believe this is not good for the national team, we are professional people and if you agree with something go by it, we have families who depend on us so we think it is time the government see reasons to make good their part of the agreement” a player who asked not to be named said.

Another player said, “It doesn’t look good for the image to be owing players bonuses for over two months when they have work for it come on let’s be serious here in Liberia.”

“I think this is some of the reasons many players don’t want to come play for the country because of this same thing; for me I am not use to this.

“How can I encourage others to come play for the country imagine we have a president who played football and this happening, the president needs to do something if he wants us to go to the nations cup or big tournament money need to be invested in the team,”

“We are one of the lowest paid national team players when it comes to appearance fees and  bonus but yet with the small money we can not get it” he said.

“We accepted a fee of one thousand United States dollars for appearance and the same for home  win and two thousand for away victory but they can give it to us, what was going to happen if we were going to win away from home  or even four victories?”

When the LFA was reached by its president Mustapha Raji who is currently out of the  country at the ongoing Nations cup in Cameroon referred our reporter to the acting president LFA Vice President For Administration Sekou Konneh who confirmed the news of the delay in the payment of the players bonus.

Mr. Konneh said they are waiting on the government through the ministry of Youth and sports to announce when the players will get their bonus.

He said the players have been on the back of the LFA for their bonus which is a set back to the national team.

 But deputy Youth and Sports Minister for Sport G. Addy Quaime said the communication from the FA  for the release of the players’ bonuses  was just sent to  MYS and they have forwarded it to the Ministry of finance and development planning.

“The LFA just sent the paperwork to the Ministry  and we have since  forwarded those paperwork  to the Ministry of Finance for payment,” he said.

The deputy sports minister told our reporter   he can not tell when the money will be released for the players and technical staff but they have made the request to  MFDP.

Contrary to Ministry Quamie assertion that the paperwork from the LFA was sent to  MYS late January  FrontPageAfrica has in its possession  the communication that was sent to Youth and  Sports Minister D. Zeogar Wilson.

The Communication to Minister Wilson  was sent on December 10, 2021 and was received by Elizabeth Zoe on the same  December 10,2021.

The Communication states “I present you compliment  on behalf of the Liberia Football Association, and herein  request  the payment of  Twenty  Nine thousand six hundred  United States  dollars ( US$29,600.00) as win bonus  for the  players andTechnical Staff of the national  team of Liberia for the win against  Central Africa Republic  in the  final  match of the FIFA  World Cup 2022 qualifiers in Tangier Morocco  on 6 November 2021” the communication signed by LFA secretary General Isaac Montgomery stated.

One may wonder why the deputy minister of sports will want to put the blame on the FA when the communication was sent to his boss a month ago.

FPA has also been informed that the players have refused to show up for the national team games until they get their bonus.

An insider at the FA disclosed that the national team had a friendly match with Libya in December but the players refused to show up on grounds that they  wanted  their bonus  and the LFA had to tourn down the friendly.

Meanwhile the Government of Liberia still has a debt of Fifty Thousand United States Dollar  in Morocco which is the balance for Airlines, accommodation and other expenses for the CAR match.

 It Can be recalled that during President Weah state of the nation address he promised to invest in the national team to ensure the team reaches the nations cup or world cup.

“I regret to inform you that in spite of our efforts to upgrade the team, we still did not qualify for two of the main soccer events in the world: The World Cup and the African Cup of Nations. But we remain committed to doing more. We will dedicate more resources and scout the best talents for the team in the coming year,” said the Chief Patron of Sports.

Monrovia – Watanga has ended Liberia Football Association First division league leaders Freeport FC unbeaten run in the Orange National First Division league.

Free Port FC had gone nine games without a defeat but left Samuel K. Doe Sports Complex practice pitch in tears after a late 3-2 comeback win for Watanga FC.

Watanga started the match on an electrifying front with Chauncy Freeman getting the match opener in the 25th minute from an Albert Korvah assist.

The Go Green Boys of Free Port mounted pressure on Watanga for the equalizer but could not as the first half ended 1-0 to Watanga FC.

Back from the break Free Port FC leveled things from Patrick Dueh strike in the 54th minute and took the lead in the 69th minute through Gibson Freeman from the penalty spot.

Chauncy Freeman who got the match opener turned provider when he assisted Kelvin Barclay in the 82nd minute to equalize for the Watanga FC.

Kelvin Ace Batener later won the match for Watanga FC in the 87th minute from an Albert Nimely connection to ensure Freeport FC had a taste of defeat for the first time.

Freeport FC had a lot of scoring chances in the match despite being down 10 men, but striker Patrick Dweh who got their equalizer after they were down 1-0 was not effective in front of the goal for the Go Green Boys.

Despite the defeat FreePort FC still remained at the top of the table with 19 points from 10 league matches, while Watanga FC moved up on the table in 3rd  place with 17 points from the same number of games.

In the second match at the SKD Practice pitch Bea Mountain missed a chance to go on top of the table following their 2-2 draw away from home to Mighty Barrolle.

Barrolle had defender Aloysius Simuija to thank as his late free-kick salvaged a point for the Rollers   on Sunday against Bea Mountain FC at the SKD Practice Pitch.

Mighty Barrolle FC result means they still sit at the bottom of the league table with eight  points from 10 games, while Bea Mountain now has the same points as the league leaders   Freeport FC, but sits second place due to goal differences.

LISCR continued  their poor form with a 2-3 home defeat to struggling Nimba united.

Nimba United got their third league win of the season to increase their points to 10, and 10th on the table.

The Shipping boys who now suffered a back-to-back defeat sits 4th place with 15 points from ten games.

Meanwhile defending champions LPRC Oilers returned to winning ways with a 3-2 win over Heaven Eleven FC.

Oilers suffered a 2-1 defeat to Nimba United in matchday 9 fixture but bounced back with a victory over the Nimba County Based club.

The reigning champions have accumulated 14 points this season from ten league matches and sit at sixth place, while Heaven Eleven has 10 points and sits 8th place on the log.

In Sanniquelle, Nimba Kwado FC and Monrovia Club Breweries share the spoils on matchday.

Both clubs settled to a goalless draw after 90th minutes of play.

Nimba Kwado FC has 14 points and sits 7th place on the league table, while Monrovia Club Breweries sits 5th place with 15 points.