Monrovia – The National County Meet has reached its grand finals with defending the champions facing Bong County in the football version of the tournament on Sunday, April 22, 2018.
Defending Kickball champions Nimba County will battle the girl from Grand Bassa in that category’s final.
Bong and Montserrado counties were winners of their respective semi-finals matches in the football category as they qualified for the finals of Liberia’s traditional sporting festival on post-match penalties shootout.
Montserrado County road to the final
The defending champions Montserrado County will be aiming to maintain the title again. They are seen as the favorite by pundits to triumph in the finals following their massive 5-0 victory over Rivergee in the quarterfinals and drawing with Margibi County before winning on penalties in the semifinals.
The Champions were paired in the Group-B alongside County Meet heavyweights, Grand Bassa, Margibi and Rivercess counties respectively.
The group described as the zone of death amongst football fans was proved to be truth as Montserrado, Grand Bassa and Margibi counties all collected five points from the total of three games played with those counties relying on the inferior performance of Rivercess County.
The defending champions won their second game in the County Meet against Rivercess County 2-1. With the remaining two games in the group ending 0-0 against Grand Bassa and Margibi Counties respectively.
Coach Samuel Sumo’s boys arrived in Montserrado with a mandate to defend their trophy won against Maryland County one year ago.
Their quarterfinal was won in style with Mark Karlay scoring a brace, Michael Dennis, Bright Twlo and Adolphus Robert all on the score sheet to advance to the semifinals.
In the semifinal, Montserrado County needed to overcome Margibi County, and it did so from the penalty spot after full time ended 1-1.
The match between the two was disrupted by the very heavy down pour of rain on Wednesday night as the game stood at 1-1 in the first-half.
But as some fans and supporters thought the match had been postponed and began to leave the Samuel Kanyon Doe Sports Complex, the game resumed after the rain subsided and the champions advanced on a post-match penalty 7-6 against Margibi County.
Bong County road to the finals
The Bong County has crossed the semifinal stage of the County Meet and through to the finals of the competition.
The last time Bong County got to the final of the County Meet was 10 years ago in the 2007/08 competition, which they won. Since then, the county has not reached the final but won two third-place titles since 2008.
The County Meet kicked-off in Gbarnga City on March 31, 2018 in the presence of President George Weah and Vice President Jewel Howard-Taylor.
Playing on home soil during the opening of the County Meet, Bong County defeated Lofa County 2-1.
In the second and the final games in the Group –A, they pinned Grand Gedeh 1-0 before a goalless draw with Nimba County to finish as round-off in the Group to qualify for the quarterfinal.
In their quarterfinal match, Bong County demonstrated their attacking style of play to destroy Bomi County 5-0, as Nathaniel Tokpah’s hat-trick, also with Kulah Gorloryorn and Israel Hallie placing their names on the score sheet to have a rematch with Nimba County in the semifinals.
Against one the County Meet heavyweights Nimba County, Bong County came from a goal down to beat Nimba from the Penalty Spot 3-0 after full time plus extra time ended 1-1 to book their place in the final.
Meanwhile in the kickball category, defending Champions Nimba County will come up against Grand Bassa County in the finals.
The defending Champions Nimba County had been excellent throughout the competition as they fashioned some fantastic performances in Group A.
But in the semifinals, Nimba County won normally to Grand Cape Mount 3-2 home runs to book their place in the final.
Grand Bassa County Kickball
Grand Bassa came from one of the toughest groups as Kickball is concerned. They had to play against Margibi, Montserrado, and Rivercess counties.
The first match against Rivercess County ended 1-0 home run in favor of Rivercess but the Bassa girls re-strategized to survive from the group.
In the quarterfinals match against before settling a semifinal rematch against Margibi County.
The 2016/17 semifinalist who lost against Margibi County could not allow slip off against their arch- rivalry as they won 3-1 home runs.
Report by Jaheim T Tumu- 077075728/ [email protected]