Monrovia — The Lone Stars of Liberia have been paired with Algeria, Togo and Equatorial Guinea in Group E of the 2025 CAF Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
Liberia are no strangers to all the teams in the group having played against them in previous competitions.
Algeria and Liberia have met six times in both World Cup Qualifiers and Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers. The two teams played out to a 2-2 draw at the 2002 Africa Cup of Nations in Mali.
Algeria's last encounter with Liberia was a friendly encounter, which ended in a 5-1 demolition in favor of Algeria. Current Lone Stars' captain, Oscar Dorley, got the consolation goal in 2021.
Both Countries first met on February 28, 1999 in the African Cup of Nations qualifiers, when the first leg ended 1-1 in Monrovia, but the Lone Star lost 4-1 on April 9,1999.
The two nations again were paired in the same group in the World Cup Qualifiers in 2010, and Algeria beat Liberia 3-0 in Algeria on June 6, 2008 and were held to a goalless draw in Monrovia on October 11, 2008.
Meanwhile, Liberia and Togo have faced each other 17 times in competitive matches, with the Togolese securing nine wins, four draws and suffering four defeats.
The first match played between both teams was on August 10,1975 in the African Cup of Nations qualifiers and Liberia lost 1-0 away and also lost 2-0 on home soil.
Liberia's best results against Togo came between August 1986 to April 1995 in which the Lone Star won three games in a row against Togo from 1986 to 1994.
In 1994, Liberia and Togo settled to a 1-1 draw in an international friendly and also a goalless draw in the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers in 1995.
The most recent match between Liberia and Togo was on June 5 2016, when the Lone Stars needed a win at home to take them to the Africa Cup of Nations, and they took a 2-0 lead against Togo at home, but the visitors frustrated Liberians when they forced a last-minute goal to end the game in a 2-2 draw.
The first leg in Togo ended in a 2-1 win for the home side on June 14 2015. With such a result still fresh in the minds of Liberians, the match in Monrovia could be seen as a revenge for Liberia, who are keen on qualifying for their third Africa Cup of Nations.
Equatorial Guinea and Liberia have met four times, with a win each and two draws. Equatorial Guinea defeated Liberia 2-1 in the Nations Cup of Nations qualifiers on September 3, 2006 and they played out to a goalless draw on June 16, 2007.
On November 20, 2023, Equatorial Guinea beat Liberia 1-0 at the Samuel K. Doe Sports Complex in Paynesville in the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers but the result was overturned by FIFA.
World governing body FIFA banned Emilio Nsue for six months after ruling that the Equatorial Guinea striker was ineligible to play in his country's first two qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup.
The 34-year-old scored the winning goal against Liberia, but after looking into the case, Fifa's disciplinary committee was "comfortably satisfied" that Nsue was ineligible for "several" international matches and ruled that both World Cup preliminaries be forfeited 3-0 by the Central Africans.
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The three points and three goals given to Liberia by FIFA are the only win that is recorded for Liberia against Equatorial Guinea. With the draw completed, Liberia are considered underdogs in the group and if they are to make it through it will be a complete upset.
On the book, Algeria and Togo are the two teams likely to come out of the group, but football can be unpredictable at times and that will be good for the Lone Stars if they are to improve on their recent results.
Lone Stars coach Mario Marinica, since taking over, has played five games, winning two, drawing two and losing one.
The qualifiers, according to CAF, will start in September 2024 and end in November 2024. The winner and runners-up in the eleven (11) groups that do not involve tournament hosts Morocco, will gain qualification to the competition.
