Monrovia — Liberia’s Interim coach Thomas Kojo has finally ended the Lone Star run of five years without a victory on home soil at the Samuel K Doe Sports Complex by beating Sierra Leone 2-1 in the African Nations championship.
By: Christopher C Walker [email protected]
The match played on Sunday October 27, was the first leg of the CHAN, a tournament for senior men’s national teams but restricted to players playing in the local leagues.
Liberia had only previously won one game at home, which was a 1-0 victory over Chad in 2019 when British man Peter Butler was in charge of Liberia.
Since Liberia’s victory over Chad, the stadium was renovated with the playing turf replaced with artificial turf rather than its natural grass but getting a win at home has been difficult for the Red, White and Blue boys.
Two different coaches have come and gone yet Liberian still didn’t celebrate a win at SKD Sports Complex.
Ansu Keita during his time as head coach of Liberia suffered defeats to Malawi, Equatorial Guinea and South Africa, which resulted in his sacking and was replaced with Mario Marinica, who also couldn’t win a game at home.
Mario, known for his kick and run play, settled to a goalless draw with Djibouti at home and lost to Algeria and Equatorial Guinea at home which followed his resignation as head coach of Liberia.
The Liberia Football Association and the Ministry of Youth and Sports had no option but to turn to a local coach, Thomas Kojo, appointed as interim coach.
Kojo, who has served as head coach of the national team and deputy coach, accepted the job to be the stand- in coach of the national team.
With no time to prepare, Kojo and his staff’s first task was the African Nations Championship against Sierra Leone and he had less than five days to put a team made of local players to face the Leone Stars.
Many Liberians didn’t believe that their national team could secure a win against a Sierra Leone team that has been doing well in recent months.
Due to poor results at home the match was played at an empty stadium but that didn’t discourage Kojo’s men from a bright start to the game.
With just two minutes of play, Lawrence Kumeh got the match opener from a well taken free kick that beat Sierra Leone keeper Francis Kroma.
Sierra Leone fought to get the equalizer and looked more composed than Liberia.
Liberia could not maintain the pressure of Sierra Leone, who levelled things from Suffian Kalokoh’s effort that beat Teddy Kollie the Liberian goalkeeper.
Both teams played out to a 1-1 draw in the first half but Sierra Leone was the better side. Back from the break Liberia had an improved performance than their first half display.
William Gibson was a constant threat to Sierra Leone defense and his presence was the difference.
With fans’ frustrations growing, Gibson collected a decent ball down the flank from Edward Ledlum and Gibson’s cross for Daniel Toe was deflected at the back of Sierra Leone’s goal for an own goal.
Later, Francis Kroma was red carded for touching the ball outside the box with his hand. The big moment of the game came to Sierra Leone when they were awarded a penalty with seconds to the end of the match following Sabastine Teclar preventing a possible goal with his hand and was sent off but he turn out to be the hero when Sierra Leone missed the penalty as the match ended 1-2 to Liberia.
It was the first time the Liberia national team had ever recorded a competitive victory at home since 2019.
Speaking to the media after the match Kojo said he was happy with his team’s win which he said is a good start.
According to the Lone Star coach there wasn’t much time for his team to prepare before Sunday’s game.
“We only had two training sessions before this game because the national league is on, it was difficult to get our players together as a group, I am impressed because we won the game today but we still need time to build a winning team.”
“It was heartbreaking when we conceded the penalty especially looking at the time but the God of football was on our side the Sierra Leonean missed so I was happy they missed the penalty “. Kojo said.
Commenting on his position as interim coach, Kojo said he will take care of the team until December after which a decision will be made by both the LFA and Ministry of Youth and Sports.
Kojo said if he’s offered the job on a permanent deal he is open to take over but is now focusing on CHAN and the two games with Togo and Algeria.
Meanwhile the second-leg of the Sierra Leone and Liberia game will be played on Friday, 1 November at SKD Sports Complex.