By Roland Mulbah, sportspromoter@gmail.com
The local national soccer squad of Liberia, Lone Star, brace to do battle for their Mauritanian counterpart this Sunday, June 16, 2017 at the Antoinette Tubman Stadium (ATS) in the first leg of the African Nations Championship (CHAN) qualifier.
The red, white and blue outfit commenced training for the CHAN qualifier last week at the Liberia Football Association Technical Center in Careysburg, Montserrado County.
The CHAN is a biennial football tournament exclusively featuring players from their respective national championships and is administered by the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
Expatriate players, regardless of where they play, even in Africa, are not qualified to take part in the CHAN.
For this time, the Liberian National Team, the Lone Star has been drawn against Mauritania in the preliminary rounds of the tournament, which is expected to take place in Kenya between January 11and February 2, 2018.
Coach James Salinsa Debbah has invited 26 players for the crucial encounter. The 26 players are drawn from teams from the Liberia Football Association (LFA) First Division.
The last time Lone Star played in the CHAN was in 2015 when the red, white and blue boys were defeated away 3-1 by Guinea with a 1-1 draw at home in the return leg.
Lone Star was eliminated by Mauritania in 2012 and in the 2014 CHAN qualifier.
Under Coach Keitue Smith was in charge in 2012, Lone Star was defeated 1-0 at home and went on to lose 2-0 away to be booted out of the qualifier.
Coach Debbah’s collection, who was defeated by Zimbabwe 3-0 just last month in the first match of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier, must win against Mauritania to reassure Liberians that they are up to the task to qualify because hindsight shows Liberia is poor performer away.
The LFA and the Liberian government have already played their parts by providing the necessary financial, logistical and moral support needed accordingly, and there are reports that the players are in high gear to win this Sunday.
“This is a perfect opportunity for our local players to explore their talents because the CHAN tournament is exclusively for home based players. Unlike our major FIFA and CAF matches, their foreign based counterparts are completely out of this encounter which provides room for the best players to showcase their talents,” a diehard fan of Lone Star said.
