S. Siapha Mulbah
One of Liberia’s traditional football clubs, Invincible Eleven (IE), of the Majesty Sports Association, along with a fast-growing Paynesville community-based club, Paynesville FC, have navigated their way through and are poised to battle in the grand finale of the Liberia Football Association Orange Cup.
Both sides got across tough opponents from the kickoff of the 2023/2024 FA cup to faceoff at the last encounter of this edition of the competition that will determine which club takes on the title from its current holder, Liberia Shipping and Corporate Registry (LISCR) Football Club.
The winner of the Cup also stands to participate in the continental Confederation Cup organized by the Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) to represent the country, among other teams that will qualify from different countries as the season draws to an end.
In the race to the finals, Invincible Eleven, dubbed “Sunshine Yellow Boys”, opened their fight against Life FC with a 2-1 victory at the Antionette Tubman Stadium on Wednesday, February 7, 2024. This victory placed them in the two-legged quarterfinals matchup against Junior Professionals.
On aggregate, the Sunshine Yellow Boys got a 4-2 edge to advance to the semifinals, after drawing the first leg 1-1 and winning the return leg 3-1, to end all things for the second division outfit at the FA Cup.
It was the second time in a row for IE to reach the semifinals of the competition, and the first time in recent years to have them securing a grand final spot. During the semifinal against Global pharma, IE used the Two United Sports Associations (TUSA) field in Gardnerville as home ground to win the first leg 2-1, losing away at the D. Tweh Field in New Kru Town 3-2 to set the aggregate at 4-4. However, IE made it to the final of the 2023/2024 Orange Cup on the away goal rule.
For their part, Paynesville FC, considered as the ‘Citizens’, have established themselves in the top two male competitions at the football association. Though they are marking their debut season at the national first division league, it almost appears impossible to determine them being new comers to the topflight, as they are currently seated third on the league table.
Along their way to the final for the first time in the history of the club and the FA Cup, Paynesville exerted dominance over teams considered as heavyweights. They were celebrated for ending LISCR’s dominance at the Orange Cup.
On November 5, 2023, Paynesville knocked out Gardnerville Football club 1-0 to get to round two, where they defeated Heaven Eleven 4-3 on post-match penalty kicks, after they had settled for a one-all draw.
Paynesville and the Champions of the cup drew the first leg of the quarterfinal 1-1 in Paynesville City, but came back to win the return leg 2-1. They completed their fight to the final by defeating Jubilee 4-1 in the second leg of the semifinal, after the first leg ended in a dramatic 1-1 draw.
