By Danesius Marteh
Liberia is on the road in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers with games against Tunisia at the Stade Olympique Hammadi Agrebi in Rades, Tunis at 19:00GMT on 4 September and Malawi at the Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe at 16:00GMT on 8 September.
The delegation, which departed Monrovia and arrived in Tunis on 31 August, wasn’t disclosed by the Liberia Football Association (LFA).
The LFA didn’t also reveal how much the government, which finances the national teams, provided.
What is public is the 24-man squad called-up by interim head coach Thomas Kojo at a news conference on 29 August but defenders Jah Nyanforh of Blackman Warriors and Daniel Toe of LISCR FC didn’t travel due to invalid passports.
This once again underlines the administrative blunders that continue to plague the national teams.
And it is squarely on administrative manager Sebastian Collins, whose responsibility it is to ensure that Liberian passports are printed for players, who have switched allegiances, including Justin Salmon, Peter Wilson and Mohammed Sangare and local players, who have invalid passports to enable the coach calls-up replacement due to manifest necessity.
It is also a painful reminder of the many administrative ineptitude, including when Liberia traveled to Saudi Arabia with only a goalkeeper in March 2022 and when the men’s under-17 were disqualified for age cheating, having woefully failed to undergo a pre-MRI scan despite having an LFA President in Mustapha Raji, who is a Confederation of African Football (CAF) executive committee member and imposes himself as the Jack of all trades.
Fans should manage their expectation due to the fact that Liberia are poor travelers, having lost the first legs at the Samuel Kanyon Doe sports complex in Paynesville.
Liberia lost 1-0 to Tunisia on 19 March and 1-0 to Malawi on 17 November 2023 in Group H.
On our last visits, Liberia drew goalless with Malawi at the Silver Stadium in Lilongwe on 26 August 1989 in a 1990 World Cup qualifier and lost 4-1 to Tunisia in a 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier at the Stade Mustapha Ben Jannet in Monastir on 4 September 2016 in Tunis.
Goalie Tommy Songo and midfielder Oscar Dorley, who were part of the traveling party, returned to Tunisia for the second time.
Full squad
Goalkeepers: Tommy Songo (LISCR FC), Abdulai Koulibaly (LPRC Oilers) and Junior Yeanay (Wologizi FC)
Defenders: Jusu Dukuly, Philip Tarnue and Nelson Laomie (Watanga FC); Prince Balde (FC Rosengård, Sweden), Natus Jamel Swen (FC Sheriff Tiraspol, Moldova), Mark Pabai (FC Koper, Slovenia), Jah Nyanforh (Blackman Warriors) and Kemoh Kamara (LPRC Oilers)
Midfielders: Oscar Murphy Dorley and Devine Teah (Slavia Prague, Czech Republic); Sheikh Sesay (Gaborone United, Botswana), Solomon Tweh (Al Raed, Saudi Arabia), Nohan Kenneh (Tranmere Rovers, England) and Jegbay Konneh (LISCR FC)
Forwards: Jimmy Bryant Farkarlun (Austin FC, United States of America), Edward Ledlum (ASO Chlef, Algeria), Daniel Nyumah (Watanga FC), Daniel Toe (LISCR FC), William Gibson (Heaven Eleven), Mamadu Bah (Sliema Wanderers, Malta) and Ayouba Kosiah (Beerschot, Belgium)
