By Bruce Wiah – Liberiansoccer Senior Reporter



Liberia’s massive preparation leading to the Gambian match in the opening stages of the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™ qualifying campaign is on course as the Lone Star is set to play a few more trial matches in Germany and Morocco later this month.

One problem that had been besetting Liberia’s football and became an ongoing saga was the lack of adequate preparation and the team new German Coach is making all effort to control this menace and make his romance with the Lone Star is success.

On 12 May 2008, Coach Antoine Hey told Liberiansoccer, the Lone Star will depart Monrovia via Casablanca for Leipzig, Germany and is overly optimistic the 26 players called for the German camp will all be available.

“At the moment, we are preparing our camp. The German FA is working very hard to give us a perfect environment for our camp”, Coach Hey disclosed.

“We are going to meet on Monday, 12 May in Leipzig. Only Dioh Williams and Oliver Makor will join one day later, because they’ve their last league match to play".

"We’ll have 26 players in camp, but we’ve no final confirmation on the players Louis Crayton, Jimmy Dixon and Dulee Johnson, but I trust that they are informed and will be there in time”, he added.

The German Coach said there will be no room for lackluster attitude, something that trammeled the Lone Star in crisis in previous competitions and is going to institute tight measures against any player that shows discourtesy to his preps and the rest of the team.

“If a player is not in camp by Monday, 12 May 2008, he will be replaced, unless he is excused like Oliver Makor and Dioh Williams. We’ve no time to waste, it would be sad, but I am not waiting for anybody”, he stressed.

While in the Germany, Lone Star will test Hertha Berlin, 11th in the German Bundesliga, on 15 May 2008 in Berlin, one day before the German side meets Bayern Munich in the concluding round of the German top flight.

Three days later, another consummate trial match will come on in Cottbus against Energie Cottbus, 14th in the Bundesliga, and hopefully, Coach Hey stated, another test match will be scheduled for 20 May to round-up the German training camp.

Coach Hey disclosed: “On 23. May 2008, we will leave Germany for Casablanca, Morocco where we will meet Morocco for a final warm up match. We are expected back in Monrovia on Monday, 26 May for the final phase of our preparation towards Gambia”.

Taking a look at what is happening in the Gambian camp, Peter Bonu Johnson has been appointed as caretaker Coach of the Gambia while the country's top football officials seek a foreigner to take charge, but with time running out, he may still be at the reins for the Liberia game.

Gambia will be counting on the youth side players that won the African U-17 Championship, which they hosted, in 2005 and the same team that went on to play at the FIFA U-17 World cup in Peru.

In 2007, the same generation continued on the same path and also qualified for the FIFA U-20 World Cup, where they acquitted themselves with aplomb. Johnson was coach of the team that progressed beyond the first phase in Canada, before losing to Austria in the last 16.

Recently, the players that won the continental championship three years ago finally received promised plots of land, which Gambia's President Yahya Jammeh, a fanatical football follower, had promised them as reward for bringing Gambia their first footballing title at continental level.

While the younger players like Pa Modou Jagne and Ousman Jallow have risen from the U-20 side to represent Gambia at full international level, there is still a strong base of experienced competitors.

Captain Edrissa Sonko, formerly of Anderlecht, is now with Walsall in England, and Pa Demba Touray keeps goal for Swedish club Djurgardens. Abdoulie Mansally and Sainey Nyassi, both 19, are examples of the Gambia's recent spike in respectability and export value.

After impressing for the Baby Scorpions at last summer's FIFA U-20 finals in Canada, they are about to begin their first full season in the USA's top-flight with Boston-based New England Revolution.

Sensational striker Ousmane Jallow signed with Al Ain in UAE after a stint at Raja Casablanca. Tijan Jaiteh recently became the second Gambian player to line up for Norwegian champs SK Brann, who participated in this year's UEFA Cup.

Abdou Ceesay and Ebrima Sohna also play in Norway while Paul Jatta went out on trials at English Championship side Southampton and Modou Jagne is in the Austrian top flight with SC Rheindorf Altach.

Liberia is drawn in Group 6 alongside struggling powers Senegal, Algeria and the Gambia.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: FIFA.COM