allAfrica.com: Liberia: Lone Star Arrives In Algeria (Page 1 of 2)

Liberia's senior national team, the Lone Star, shut herself in the foot after forcing fellow underdog, the Scorpions of Gambia to a 1-1 draw at the SKD Sports Stadium in Monrovia on Sunday, June 1.

The match was marred by eight deaths in an overcrowded stadium. Liberia's football authority said a thick section of the crowd had gathered at a particular gate, which led to the suffocation of eight fans and the injury of dozens others.

Two more fans died in the days that followed at hospitals in Monrovia.

Several thousands football fans crammed the SKD Sports Complex outside Monrovia to catch a glimpse of their national team for the first time in a highly competitive match under newly appointed German coach, Antoine Hey.

FA Secretary General, George Williams, blamed the burst on the sale of fake tickets in some quarters around the stadium and on poor security and admits the FA is responsible for the incident.

"The spraying of water over the people reduced the level of suffocation and also helped the crowd calm down.

"Yes, we (the LFA) are responsible, but things could have been worse. At the moment, we know that eight people have been killed. There are injuries as well, but these are not that significant", Mr. Williams told the BBC.

FIFA and the Liberian government are also investigating the incident, which has become the gravest football disaster in Liberia football history some pundits remembered.

President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has declared a weekend of national mourning from Friday, June 6 to Sunday, June 8, 2008 and has asked all worship centers in the entire country to observe the irreparable loss the nation has sustained.

In a statement, President Johnson-Sirleaf said: "This is a tragedy and a big loss for the entire nation, putting a cloud of sadness over an event that was to bring our youth together to celebrate with our Gambian brothers and sisters in the spirit of sportsmanship."

The match was Liberia and the Gambia's first Group 6 encounter in the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa and Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers campaign.

Senegal and Algeria, the group other contenders, played a day earlier with the Teranga Lions of Senegal collecting a narrow win over Algeria's Desert Warriors in Dakar.

The Liberian team had a better run of preparation as compare to the Gambia, and the expectations were enormous, and every requirement to win at home was met as far as the public was concerned and with deaths, the fans still couldn't have their reprieve.

The German coach, unlike previous coaches, received a fat three-month salary bonus, and other remunerative support to prepare the team, and was fortunate to play four international friendly matches and had a brief training camp in Casablanca, Morocco ahead of the Gambian fixture.

Anything less than a win for Liberia at home, on papers, puts the Lone Star in a difficult position of qualifying for South Africa and Angola in 2010, and sure it has. The team failed to rise to the occasion, and each time this happens, it's the Liberian fans that suffer.

Liberia missed the 2002 FIFA World Cup because of complacency at the same SKD Sports Complex, and their performance on Sunday was without color, steam and conviction and will at this early stage of the competition, starts the mathematical calibration, "the hoping antics".

The entire team - technical staff and playing body flopped big time, and some pundits asked what they were doing on the pitch last Sunday in the first place.

The tactics were non-existent and not in the books, defense in shreds, midfield perforated and attackers ran around like strayed antelopes.

The team is under huge pressure in the coming weeks, and though they flew out of Monrovia a day after the game in a real zip, three so-called key and professional players - Dulee Johnson, Francis Doe and Dioh Williams missed the team flight to Morocco.

The Secretary General of the Liberia Football Association told Star Radio in Monrovia, the players missed the flight for Morocco due to late arrival at the Roberts International Airport.

The Lone Star, however, arrived in Algers Tuesday, June 3 after a night in Morocco with 17 players plus 6 technical staff and is lodging at the Mercure Alger airport hotel.

Algeria hosts Liberia Friday, June 6, 2008 at 7: 30 PM, in Chaker Blida 45-kilometers away from the capital.

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