Monrovia — The return of the Lions duo may dash any hopes the Lone Star may have of causing an upset on Saturday, as African giants battle for World Cup berth.

These aren't good times to be a fan of Liberian football. Since the retirement of George Weah, the team has undergone a rapid rehabilitation with a bunch of unknown and fairly-known youngsters trying to make an impact but to no avail.

Weah's dream of reaching the World Cup never materialized during his playing days and judging from the current standings of the current team, it doesn't look like Liberia's dream of reaching the World Cup will ever materialize.

This weekend, the Lone Star's face The Lions of Senegal in Dakar, Senegal in their second round group one match of the World Cup qualifiers. The Lions are leaving no stone unturned and aren't taking anything for granted. English-based duo El Hadji Diouf and Khalilou Fadiga have been recalled to the squad. The Lions won the first match 3-0 in Monrovia.

Heart in place

Fadiga struggled to overcome an irregular heartbeat and only recently returned to form for his club, Bolton FC while his teammate, the controversial El Hadji Diouf was suspended from the team for the last match for breaking team curfew. Their return is bound to make it even more impossible for Liberia to cause an upset, especially in Dakar.

Not many clubs were willing to give the 29-year-old midfielder, Fadiga a chance in view of his heart problem, but Wanderers handed him a 12-month contract last summer when manager Sam Allardyce was impressed with Fadiga's determination to stay in the game.

Eyeing the World Cup

A look at the matches taking place across the continent this weekend.

Saturday

Liberia vs. Senegal

Malawi vs. Guinea

Nigeria vs.Gabon

Burkina Faso vs. Cape Verde

Sunday

Zimbabwe vs. Angola

Cameroun vs. Sudan

Congo vs. Ghana

Ivory Coast vs. Benin

Algeria vs. Rwanda

Egypt vs. Libya

Mali vs. Togo

He had a defibrillator fitted during the season, and was pronounced fit to continue. He has now regained his place in the Senegal World Cup squad, along with colleague El-Hadji Diouf.

As for Liberia, the Liberia Football Association and the Ministry of Sports recently reached a compromise to keep Joseph Sayon alias "Kofi Bruce" as caretaker coach of the national team. Sayon was appointed caretaker coach in November after the resignation of Kadala Kromah. However, that appointment was originally rejected by the Sports Ministry, who said it could not afford to pay for a coach. The LFA later changed its mind and agreed to pay Sayon's wages for the remaining of the 2006 World Cup and African Cup of Nations qualifiers.

The Lone Star's preparation for the match has been weakened by the country's failure to find funds to fly home their foreign-based contingent. To date, the team has only manage four points in a group one that features Mali, Senegal, Congo, Zambia and Togo.

Security fears allayed

Earlier this week, Football's world governing body, FIFA confirmed that the Leopold Sedar Senghor stadium would effectively host Saturday's 2006 World and Nations Cup qualifying tie between Senegal and Liberia.

Last February, FIFA director in charge of stadiums and security, Walter Gagg found the stadium unfit and gave the Senegalese authorities 15 days within which to equip the medical unit, number seats and clear the playground of projectiles. On 17 March, Adnan El Guindy of the African Football carried out a final inspection of the stadium.

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) recently listed the match between Liberia and Senegal a high-risk encounter.

Following the Lone Star's 3-0 thrashing at the hand of the Lions of Senegal last year, an angry mob attacked the the home of then Lone Star's head coach, Kadala Kromah. Fans angry at the Lone Star's performance also destroyed vehicles and rioted resulting in the death of several people.

Zambia, who trail Senegal on goal difference face Congo Saturday at home in Chililalombwe. Zambia beat Congo 3-2 away in October with a hat-trick from striker Collins Mbesuma, who has been in a rich vein of scoring form recently. Chelsea striker Didier Drogba returns for the Ivory Coast against Benin in Abidjan on Sunday. The Ivorians have a two-point lead over Libya in Group Three and an even bigger advantage over Cameroon and Egypt.

Eagles landing

The Super Eagles of Nigeria will have full-strength squad for Saturday's game in Port Harcourt against Gabon and they will be hoping that a win would give them a chance to take over at the head of Group Four. The Eagles' dream may only come through based on how the group leaders, Angola fares against Zimbabwe in Harare on Sunday. The unbeaten Angolans lead Nigeria by a point but travel to Harare without captain and leading goal scorer Akwa, who is suspended. The leadership of the four other qualifying groups is not expected to change after the 15 matches scheduled for the weekend

Cameroun's hopes of reaching the World Cup is also in jeopardy as they host Sudan, in the first competitive match in charge for their new Portuguese coach Artur Jorge.

Egypt will have Tottenham Hotspurs striker Mido on hand when they take on Libya in Cairo on Sunday. Mido had a fall-out with previous coach Marco Tardelli.

South Africa faces Uganda in Johannesburg on Saturday as they seek to retain top spot in Group Two. Their closest rivals, Democratic Republic of Congo and Ghana, are one point behind going into their meeting in Kinshasa on Sunday.

Morocco and Guinea, the top two teams in Group Five, clash in Rabat on Saturday while African champions Tunisia, back in fifth place, should climb the standings after playing Malawi in Tunis.

Only the group winners qualify for the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany. The top three sides in each group will go to the 2006 African Nations Cup finals in Egypt.

The leadership of the four other qualifying groups is not expected to change after the 15 matches scheduled for the weekend.

Only the group winners qualify for the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany. The top three sides in each group will go to the 2006 African Nations Cup finals in Egypt.

For Liberia, its Lone Star's will probably be playing for pride, more than anything else. Perhaps years of uncertainty have finally caught up with a team that ran out of support long ago. With no patronage from Weah coming this time around, it may take years before the country may be able to put up a competitive team together to battle for a berth in anything, most especially, a World Cup.