By S. Siapha Mulbah
The Liberia Football Association National Second Division League is currently witnessing a creeping venture of Junior Professional and Sinoe National Port Authority Football Clubs as they have both maintained their positions among the top five teams for several weeks.
Junior Professionals are two points away from the top of the league table while Sinoe NPA are three points away.
As the league continues, the top five teams in terms of points and position going into the round 20 of the competition tomorrow, February 15, 2024, include Black Man Warrior with 39 points, Gardnersville FC with 38 points, Shaita football Club with 38 points, Junior Professionals with 37 points, and Sinoe NPA Football Club with 36 points.
From the start of the league, it was an unexpected instance for pundits to discuss any issues concerning the possible promotion of Junior Pro and Sinoe NPA. It was also perceived impossible to have any of them being part of the top five teams, increasing the competition to the extent it is currently because of the performance of some teams that played and missed out on qualification last season.
Howbeit, the survivability of clubs that considered themselves as ‘big teams’ in the national league and their chances of qualifying to the National First Division League after the 2023/2024 league season depends on the subsequent performance of all the clubs in the league, especially the ones in the top positions.
With the top five team zone being heavily contested after every weekly round of games, it is hard to predict how the campaign will end, and all clubs will have to keep going toe to toe with one another for a better performance.
Gardnersville Football Club, Shaita Football Club, and Black Man Warrior are all anticipating to stay on top of the table to gain promotion to the upper league, but the consistency of Junior Professionals, Sinoe NPA, and some of those beneath them, continues to serve as a threat to their respective qualifications.
Unlike Black Man, all other teams at the top of the table have played 19 league matches. Junior Professionals and the leaders of the second division, Black Man Warrior, have won the highest number of league matches (12 games won each) and the remaining three teams in the upper category have won 11 games each.
With that said, it is clear that the race for qualification is not favoring a single side but setting top performing teams into tougher competition with their different opponents.
During the 2022/2023 league season, Junior professionals and Sinoe NPA found themselves among the bottom five teams at the end of the season, while there were others, including Gardnersville, Margibi, and Tony (now Shaita) football clubs, that battled with those that got promoted to the topflight but could not make it.
At the beginning of this season, the same names of clubs that came close, NPA Anchors, Paynesville, and Second Division Champion, Global Pharma, began to top the discussion in every football forum, not considering the remaining teams because of “low performance”.
The relegation of Nimba United, Jubilee, and Sandi FC (now Wologizi), also created the presumption that the league’s main rivalry will now stand between those that got relegated and those that missed the chances of qualification to the first division.
However, the race is not to the swift…
