The downward state of Liberia’s senior national team, the Lone Star, has prompted a new wave of protestations, with Liberians calling for the immediate dismissal of the country’s National Team Head Coach.
Though the outburst with this underperforming Lone Star coach did not come as a surprise, it was however shocking when protesters demanded that Mustapha I. Raji, the one-time very passionate character of Liberia’s national team, step aside as Head of Liberian football.
The disenchanted fans, during Sunday’s protest, claimed that he (Raji), like Keita, has failed to rejuvenate the nation’s pride, the Lone Star. The protesters attributed the continuous decline of the national team to the insensitivity of the FA boss to take decisive decision that would elevate the technical management of Lone Star.
They insisted that Raji’s choice for the Head Coach job was a blur or visually impaired judgement clouded with sentiments. According to them (protesters), those who masterminded Keita’s appointment should also vacate the top seat, since they have not been able to bring back the glory days of Lone Star. Prior to Raji’s ascendency to the FA’s Presidency, he led countless advocacy-driven protests, projecting himself as the only person who could bring back the ‘Glory Days’ of the Lone Star.
His repeated tough-talking approach won the admiration of football stakeholders and subsequently paved his way to head the FA’s leadership. But to the disbelief of many, President Raji has miserably failed to add any inch of value to an already struggling Lone Star.
Amid the unexplained causes for such a perilous state of the Lone Star, some angry fans on last Friday, November 17, 2023, stormed the post-match news conference at the SKD Sports Complex, minutes following Liberia’s 1-0 home defeat to Malawi, a team that is seated in 123th place on FIFA’s latest ranking.
Their action, which has also been criticized by few pundits, appeared to be an immediate reaction to what many referred to as Lone Star’s worst home performance in decades.
Liberia’s loss to Malawi was Keita’s fifth defeat in six outings, since the Canadian-Liberian signed a two-year deal in January 2023. Strangely, some of the fans were spotted throwing objects on the field before forcing their way through the main entrance to the playing pitch, in search of the under-pressure Coach Keita.
The former Under-17 Head Coach has a mandate to qualify Liberia to the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will be held in USA, Canada and Mexico. In continuation of Friday’s display by the aggrieved Lone Star fans, another batch of protesters embarrassingly engulfed the main entrance of the SKD stadium during Sierra Leone vs Egypt World Cup qualifiers on Sunday.
It can be recalled, in April 2022, Assistant Sports Minister, James Toe, said the national team’s consistently poor performances have de-motivated the citizens’ interest in the team. He said the Ministry of Youth and Sports, which is the regulator of the national team, will work with the Liberia Football Association to explain the cause of Lone Star’s poor performances.
Liberia’s latest FIFA Ranking at 151, as of October 2023, is a clear manifestation of Lone Star’s disastrous performances under the Raji-led administration. The image of local football governance may have experienced some marginal improvement, but the failure to translate such local progress to the senior national team has been a serious minus on the part of the current FA.
Since February 2018, Liberia experienced her best FIFA ranking in 2021, when she climbed to 144th place. The Lone Star climbed six places, moving from 150th to 144th. But a series of dismal displays and inconsistency in the management of the national team saw the team drop back to its previous position (150th), and currently sits in 151th place, an unappreciable position that has prompted a wave of citizens’ uproars against President Raji and his likes at the FA.
Football pundits believe that the ongoing wave of protestations by fans should serve as a warning and wakeup call to the local FA, given that no progress in Liberian football can be measured without an improvement of the National Team.
It is no secret that football fans in Liberia, like other countries, can be unbending, uncompromising, and uncontrollable when expressing their frustrations with the performance of the Lone Star.
Fans troop in their numbers on many occasions to cheer, show solidarity, and express their love for country, sometimes defying all odds to ensure that the national team gets an overwhelming home support. But the streak of poor performances, especially under the regime of ‘Tough-Talking Raji’, and on home soil, has tested the resolve of the local fans.
