By S. Siapha Mulbah
Liberia Senior National Team, the Lone Star, will face Djibouti in a double-header fixture in the preliminary rounds of the 2025 Moroccan African Cup of Nations Qualifiers.
Both teams will clash in a back-to-back home and away format competition to join the final qualifying round of the 2025 AFCON. The first leg will be played on Wednesday March 20, 2024 in Djibouti, and a return leg will be played the following Tuesday, March 26, 2024 at the Liberian national stadium, the Samuel Kanyon Doe Sports Complex in Paynesville City.
The fixture came as a result of the February 20, 2024 preliminary draw conducted in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) among the eight lowest-ranked African countries by the world football governing body, the Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA), to have four nations joining the exempted 44 nations for the main qualifier event.
The Lone Star, under a new coaching administration, will have to get the best result from the two matches against Djibouti in order to book as spot in the main qualifiers.
On Monday, February 19, 2023, ahead of the draw, the Lone Star appointed Mario Marinica as its new head coach to cover the vacuum left in the team by the December 2023 dismissal of its former coach, Ansumana Keita.
The Romanian former footballer, now coach, was however charged with the responsibility to work with the technical department of the Liberia Football Association to identify and develop young potential talents domestically and internationally for the country.
According to the local football house, Mario Marinica, who signed a two-year contract with the national team, has been mandated with the task of qualifying the Lone Star for the 2025 AFCON final tournament.
Other countries that were placed in the two pots for the draw are Somalia, Sao Tome, Chad, Mauritius, South Sudan, and Eswatini. While Liberia and Djibouti will be crossing paths during the FIFA window for March 2024, Chad will go against Mauritius, and Sao Tome will face South Sudan, as Somalia will take on Eswatini.