LIBERIA FACES NIGERIA IN THE 2ND ROUND…



By: Pawala Janyan)

– Liberia has been paired with the Super Eagles of Nigeria in the 2nd/final round of qualifications for the 2013 African Cup of Nations to be held in South Africa. The official draw ceremony of the 2013 edition of Africa’s biggest continental tournament took place on Monday evening (July 5, 2012) in Johannesburg, South Africa at Tanz Cafe, Emperors Palace, Ekurhuleni. Matches will be played on home & away basis.

Lonestar will first host Nigeria in Monrovia on either the 7th, 8th or 9th of September, 2012 and 2nd leg will be in Nigeria on either the 12th, 13th or 14th of October 2012.

Other results of the draw are:
Mali vs. Botswana
Guinea vs. Niger
Sierra Leone vs. Tunisia
Mozambique vs. Morocco
Cape Verde vs. Cameroon
Zambia vs. Uganda
Ghana vs. Malawi
Zimbabwe vs. Angola
Sudan vs. Ethiopia
Libya vs. Algeria
Ivory Coast vs. Senegal
Equatorial Guinea vs. DR Congo
Gabon vs. Togo
Central African Republic vs. Burkina Faso

NOTE: 1st leg is on 7, 8 or 9 September, 2012 and 2nd leg 12, 13 or 14 October 2012)

The draw for the final tournament will be held on the 26th of October, 2012 in Johannesburg, South Africa. The final tournament is slated to kick off on the 19th of January and end on the 10th of February in 2013.

For your information, on September 23, 2010, a decision of CAF executive committee ruled to change the timetable for the holding of AFCON from even to odd years for the preliminary stages and selected South Africa to host the edition which comes back-to-back with 2012 edition in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.


HOW LONESTAR REACHED THIS LEVEL:
The Lonestar was paired on a home & away basis with the Brave Warriors of Namibia in the first round after Liberia's opponent in the preliminary round, Mauritius withdrew, automatically giving Lonestar a ticket to the first round of qualification. A 1-0 victory on Feb. 29, 2012 in Monrovia (thanks to a goal by Dioh Williams at the ATS), coupled with a goalless draw away to Namibia in Windhoek on June 16, 2012, guaranteed her a place in the second/final phase of qualification for the African Cup of Nations 2013 for the first time in many years, advancing on a 1-0 aggregate.