Will Liberia’s Starlets Overturn 3-0 Defeat to Niger in Niamey in Return Leg At ATS Sunday?



Coach Gray gives instruction ahead of training in Niamey
 

Written by Danesius Marteh
danesius.marteh@frontpageafricaonline.com

Liberia will take on Niger in an Under-20 return leg qualifier at the Antoinette Tubman Stadium on Sunday.

The Starlets are seeking to overturn a 3-0 defeat suffered under a hot condition in Niamey on April 22.

But team manager Eric Panton filed a protest immediately after the game that the hosts used seven illegal players.

The so-called illegal players were oalie Ouedraogo Salifou Issa and defenders Fechhal Sani Dermane and Amadou Hassane.

Others are midfielders Bassirou Bahari Oumarou and Alio Youssouf and strikers Ado Hayo Rabiou and Sechal Sani Dermane.

Although his protest was turned down on procedural grounds, the Liberia Football Association (LFA) re-filed the protest with the grievance and ethics committee of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) with a fee of US$1,500 (one-thousand, five-hundred United States dollars).

Aside from the protest, head coach Gray Haizel has reshuffled his team with five new players.

They are defenders Friday Bestman of Watanga FC, Ganayea Clinton of Monrovia Club Breweries (MCB) and Anthony Borgbor of Nimba United and strikers Randy Zwanna Dukuly of Monrovia FC and Elijah Clark of Nimba United.

Coach Gray will hope that those who survived his rightsizing will rescue his fading mission. They include goalies Allenton Sembeh of Nimba United and Joshau Williams of MCB. Others are defenders Fred Fofana of Watanga FC, Kemoh Kamara of Mighty Blue Angels, Theo Nimely, Sporo Somah of Watanga FC, Saah Nyumah and Titus Cooper.

Others are Keith Nah, Marlee Roberts, Claudius Morris, Blamo Nimely, Abel Horton, Prince Saydee and Gray failed in his quest to qualify Liberia against Senegal in an under-17 championship.

He was deputy coach to Thomas Kojo when Liberia lost 0-4 to Ivory Coast in the first leg second round qualifiers of the London Olympic Games at the Accra Sports Stadium on March 27, 2011 in Accra, Ghana.

Sierra Leonean match commissioner Yunisa Alim Sesay will ensure that the right things are done.

He will be assisted by Burkinabe referees Ouedraogo Oumarou, center; Pare Adolphe Adam, assistant #1; Sessouma Drissa, assistant #2 and Ouedraogo Boukari as fourth official.

Allenton Sembeh of Nimba United is poised to start in goal ahead of Joshua A. Williams of Monrovia Club Breweries.

Michael Fahnbulleh of Gardnersville FC, Ronaldo Dahn of Invincible Eleven (IE), Fred Fofana of Watanga FC, Kemoh Kamara of Mighty Blue Angels and Mark Blackie of Zealors FC will vie for the starting defensive roles.

Abel Horton and Marlee Roberts of LISCR FC; Claudius Morris of Barrack Young Controllers (BYC) and Keith Nah of LPRC Oilers could start in midfield.

But Prince Saydee of BYC, Saah Nyumah of Black Star, Titus Cooper of Nimba United and Theo Nimely of Jubilee are in line to replace the quartet or any of them.

Strikers Blamo Nimely of Monrovia Club Breweries and IE’s Herron Berring are highly likely to start with Quelmin Yorwatei of St. Joseph’s Warriors on a standby. Nimely and Berring have scored 16 goals between them in the premier league so far.

The Malian referees are Keita Mohamadou — Center; Diakite Moriba — Assistant referee #1; Niare Drissa Kamory — Assistant referee #2 and Sidibe Ousmane—fourth official while match Commissioner Abdel Hakim El Shelman is from Libya.

Documented For Cheating: FPA Finds Traces Of Niger’s Habit Of Using Overage Players In Continental Competition

Editor’s note: Liberia is battling with CAF to disqualify Niger for fielding seven illegal players during an U-20 qualifier where the Starlets lost 0-3 in Niamey

Ahead of the investigation, FrontPageAfrica came across an article written on Jan. 4, 2009 by Sulayman Bah about how Niger was disqualified for similar reason. Niger’s dream of qualifying for the Under-17 world championship was dealt with a big blow after Zimbabwe appealed against them for featuring over aged players.

The Nigerene government motivated the players by paying US$2,000 (two-thousand United States dollars) to each player with coach Frederic Acosta receiving a handsome reward of US$4,000 (four-thousand United States dollars).

They could have followed Burkina Faso, Algeria, Gambia and world under-17 host Nigeria had they fairly booked in their names to the qualifying sheet of the international competition.

Their fraudulent qualification came from 0-1 and 2-1 beatings of Somalia and Mali respectively before packing aside the young elephants of Ivory Coast aside, only to be banned for featuring over age players.

Niger could have played against the Baby Scorpions had they progressed to the semi final but were later disqualified by Caf for featuring over age players. The Baby Scorpions whitewashed Malawi, the team that replaced Niger.

Assistant referee