The local-based senior national team invited squad of players for Liberia, the Lone Star, has gone nearly a week into it preparation for the upcoming African Cup of Nations Qualifiers without seeing the presence of the head coach Mario Marinica.
The Lone Star started training on Monday August 19,2024 with Deputy Coach Kelvin Singbwe leading the charge with an expectation that Coach Mario would be in country soon to take over his responsibility along with the other backroom staff of his technical team that had been absent with him.
Since the start of the training, the status of the coach remained unknown despite public perceptions that he will not return due to misunderstanding between his employers which are the Liberian government through the Ministry of Youth and Sports along with the Liberia Football Association regarding the payment of his salaries and other arrears.
After the observation of the conspicuous absence of the coach, this paper engaged the communication and media section of the football house that revealed that there were delays and other issues concerning flight arrangements that would result into a late arrival of the coach in the country.
The LFA media had assured the public more than a week ago that coach Mario would have been in the country before the commencement of the ongoing training.
Over the last weekend, the LFA released a called list of 32 local based players to commence training accounts that the listing was done by the coach who is still in absentia with the process ongoing.
The Liberian national team now has only two weeks for preparation to kick-off their 2025 African Cup of nations qualifiers campaign that will be starting on Friday, September 6, 2024 in an away fixture to Togo.
They will also take after the away match for recovery to be up against Algeria the following Tuesday, September 10, 2024 at home at the Samuel Kanyon Doe Sports Complex in Paynesville.