By S. Siapha Mulbah
Today, Thursday February 29, 2024, is a day for intense battle as the Liberia Football Association runs round 19 of its National First Division League matches across the country.
The league has crossed its mid-season stage, with eight games remaining to climax and determine the club that will enjoy the championship amenities for the next footballing season.
The topflight teams are currently at a point in their campaign that requires total revamp in strategies and techniques in order to increase service delivery and get results that are vital to winning the league or maintaining a top spot.
For teams at the bottom of the table, it is a prerogative of the players, team administrators, and technical staffers, to save their respective clubs from dropping to the lower league in relegation.
The line of matches to be played today across the country in the first division will further justify the stands of many teams that are hopeful of participating in the same league next season.
Though today is not a determination for the decider of the 2023/2024 league, the results will pave a way to strengthen clubs as to how the following fixtures should be raised and whether there should be a relaxation for them to maintain a space in the league.
Four venues in two counties, namely, Montserrado and Nimba Counties, are going to host seven matches with afternoon and evening sessions, at the Samuel Kanyon Doe Sports Complex Practice Pitch in Paynesville City, the Tusa Field in Gardnersville, and the Antoinette Tubman Stadium in the city of Monrovia, while the Floyd Seh Tomah Stadium in Nimba County will host the only outside Monrovia match of the week in the first division.
Table leader, Wantanga Football Club of the City of Paynesville, is out of their comfort zone, following Nimba Kwado to Gompa City as a way of honoring the two sides’ second phase fixture in the topflight. Watanga, with 39 points, sit at the top of the table, while their opponents of the week, Nimba Kwado, is in eighth place with 24 points.
At about the same time of the day, the evening matches across the other venues will kick off with the Double Champions, Liberia Shipping and Cooperate Registry (LISCR) Football Club, in second place on the current table, playing Ninth placed LPRC (Oilers) Anchors at the Tusa Field.
The battle for fourth and fifth to close the point gap on the top three will be played at the practice pitch of the Samuel Kanyon Doe Sports Complex, between 35 points Heaven Eleven and 34 points Mighty Barrolle. The Traditional Kanyan Pepper Boys will be hoping to get back among the top three as the competition advances to a stage that could be decided in less than 10 matches.
Cece United will play host to the national first division league highest scoring team this season, Paynesville FC, at the examination hall of Liberian football. This match is a third from top team going against the second team from the bottom.
Cece has been deeply rooted in the relegation space of the league, with one win and three draws after 18 games.
Invincible Eleven will open up happenings at the ATS against Global pharma in the first match. Freeport takes on National Port Authority (NPA) Anchors in the first fixture at the Tusa field, and newly purchased FC Kallon of Liberia will meet Bea Mountain at the practice pitch.
Kallon, in the relegation zone, third from bottom of the 14-team chart, will aim to launch an operation to save a spot in the topflight to give new owner, Cassell Anthony Kuoh, the chance to participate in the first league. Qualification being one of the aims of the team’s new owner, it is the desire of the supporters that this club starts to move away from the bottom, beginning from today’s match.
