Monrovia- Liberia National team goalkeeper Ashley Williams has broken silence on reports that he is considering calling time off on his football career and has taken up the tailoring profession.
By: Christopher C. Walker 0777898224/0886723075 [email protected]
The LISCR FC keeper photos over the last three days has been on social media with him seating behind a tailoring machine something many believe the once hero of Liberia has made his mind up for life after football.
But speaking to FrontPage Africa on the latest news concerning him Williams said he is surprised about the news of him taking up tailoring as a career.
According Williams who has play professional football out of Liberia he has no idea of what is on social media.
The information on social media is not true about me, I have no intention to be a tailor, I don’t know anything about that.
“I when to visit my mom and I took that picture that all, Yes I post that picture since last year,” Williams told FrontPage Africa.
Ashely who made name for himself 2018 when he helped Liberia Finish in second place of the West African Football Union under-20 tournament and save a last minute penalty against Sierra Leone in Freetown during the 2019 Nations Cup qualifiers explained that his focus now is on football alone.
“Nothing for now just hope to be back soon after football I am going to the USA after football,”.
“I am from Logan town I’m not thinking about what going on right now,” he added.
Brief about Ashely Williams
Ashley Williams (born 30 October 2000) is a Liberian footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Liberian side LISCR FC and the Liberian national team.
Born in Monrovia, Williams started playing football in his local community of Logan Town where he started playing as a defender. The young potential kid began his career at age 12 when he joined a local community team, Duke Football Club. He played at the left-back position with the community club before joining another community youth club, Bassa Town Young Controller. He joined the club in 2014 and switch his position from playing at left-back to the goalkeeping position because of the club lack of goalkeeper. The decision to go in goal worked out for the then 14-year-old who performed excellently. He remained as a goalkeeper and led the club to playing in the third division league where he was spotted by Liberia First Division club LISCR FC that showed interest in signing him for their feeder team, Gardnersville FC, that played in the second division of Liberian football.
Gardnersville FC
LISCR succeeded in signing the left-back turned goalkeeper in 2015 and sent him to Gardnersville FC for development. The young goalkeeper was immediately given a place in the team upon his arrival after first choice goalkeeper Gabriel Okotie was promoted to LISCR. During his debut season in the second division, he managed to put out some brilliant performances which caught the attention of LISCR FC head coach, Tapha Manneh who invited him to train with LISCR FC during the first phase break of the 2016 -17 Liberian National first Division league. After more than two weeks of intensive training sessions, Williams performances pleased Tapha Manneh who awarded him a place in the team, taking part in the second half of the unbeaten season.
LISCR FC
After several years with Gardnerville, he moved permanently from the third division to the top tier of Liberian football. Two months after his promotion to LISCR, he made his debut in the Liberian Cup second round against Muscat FC. He played all 90 minutes as LISCR and Muscat FC played to a 4–4 draw, sending LISCR on to the third round with a 7–3 aggregate.
Ahead of the 2018 Liberian First Division season, he featured in two matches and played a key role in helping his side win the 2017 LISCR Trust Tournament and Liberia Diaspora Tournament. He did not feature for LISCR in the 2018 CAF Champions League, however.
International career
Williams might not have had the opportunity to play a competitive game for LISCR, but his performances during the preseason never went unnoticed by Liberia under-20 head coach, Christopher Wreh who called him to the team’s training sessions ahead of the 2018 WAFU/FOX U-20 Tournament. He made the list of the provisional 25-playersbefore making the final 18-man team for the tournament He made his debut for the Liberia under-20 squad on the opening day of the tournament in a 3–0 loss to Ivory Coast in which he made eight saves Despite the defeat, he helped Liberia bounce back to defeat Guinea 2–1 in the following match Liberia progressed out of the group stage into the semi-finals with a 5–1 win over the Sierra Leone On 2 May, Williams kept a clean-sheet as Liberia beat Mali to reach the final of the tournament, eventually losing to The Gambia in the final.
