Since the chief patron of sports Madam Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf announced her intention to see Liberia's Lone Star at the 2010 World Cup, which is scheduled to take place in South Africa, not much, has been seen or heard from football authorities in the country to buttress the president's ambition.

It has been alleged by pundits that the Ministry of Youth and Sports (MYS) have become very reluctant in ensuring that the dream of the President becomes a reality, because up to present the issue of a national head coach has been a controversial matter.

The issue of Liberia's qualification for the 2010 World Cup finals has been on the minds and lips of many Liberians in the country and as a means of airing their views they have been speaking to The INQUIRER about the level of preparation of the Lone Star football team thus far.

Commenting on the chances of Lone Star for the 2010 World Cup, some Liberians blamed the lack of cordialness between the MYS and the FA for the poor performance of Lone Star over the last years.

Some sports enthusiasts have accused the sports ministry of being one of the institutions that is trying to thwart the ambition of President Sirleaf as well as the Liberian people to see the national football team at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

According to them, the MYS, since the president's pronouncement has not carried out any memorable event that is worthwhile to keep President Sirleaf's dream for sports in the country aloft.

They alleged that the sports ministry has diverted its primary focus on secondary sporting events including the inter-ministerial league and has paid less attention to the preparation of the national team, which is expected to participate in the 2010 Nations Cup qualifier very soon.

They wondered as to whether Liberia, in the midst of uncertainty, could really reach the 2010 finals in the absence of a head coach or a technical staff to steer the affairs of the team by preparing the team for future challenges.

"We have a good set of players but our problem over the years has been finding the right coach who will blend the boys. Particularly, if our boys are really blended and begin early preparation, then I think we have a chance," the viewers claimed.

For the past weeks the selection of a head coach for the national team has been a struggle between the Liberia Football Association (LFA) and the Ministry of Youth and Sport (MYS).

Recently, the secretary general of the football house, Mr. George Williams, revealed in one of the local dailies that they have forwarded some names to the MYS to assume the technical position at the Lone Star.

Though he did not confirm the names of those that have been selected by the FA for the technical position, the issue of who heads the technical staff of Lone Star has been a key one on the agenda of many discussions around the town.

Liberians have become more concerned about the participation of Lone Star in the up- coming nations cup then previous occasions; apparently because most of the African players in Europe are been paraded in the nations cup and are being watched by the Liberian people.

They claimed that it is their desire to see Liberia as well in the nations cup, which is Africa biggest football fiesta.

Liberia is being placed in Group 6 of the CAF Nations Cup and the World Cup qualifiers draw alongside their North African counterpart, Algeria, the Taranga Lions of Senegal and Gambia.

In this group, Senegal and Algeria have enjoyed a perfect beating record against Liberia. The Lions, during its last match with Liberia whipped the Lone Star 6-0 in Dakar and 3-0 in Monrovia respectively, while Lone Star miserably lost to Algeria 5-0 in Algiers.

Lone Star disappointingly failed to sail to this year's Nations Cup Finals after showing a dismal performance during the preliminaries.

Liberia has never qualified for the World Cup Finals but has come close to qualifying on two different occasions, which include the 1990 enterprise and the last World Cup finals played in Germany.