The Caretaker Coach of the men’s senior national team of Liberia Thomas Kojo has hailed the Performance of his young side even though they lost in front of home fans by a narrow one goal to zero but Coach Kojo stated that he was impressed with his team’s display adding that it was a good performance but unfortunate result for them.
Liberia got punished in the early ten minutes of the five half after a disposed ball from winger Edward Ledlum inside his own half which was quickly capitalized by the Tunisian attacking force and swiftly landed it at the back of Goalkeeper Tommy Songo’s net by striker Hazem Mastouri.
Following the early mistake from player Ledlum, Liberia took full control of the game and dominated possession as the fans cheers for the finishing but the young side was very unlucky on the night.
Debutants Salomon Tweh and Bryant Jimmy Farlarlun outstanding performances won the hearts of the happy fans inside of the Samuel K. Sports Complex in Paynesville as Jimmy was even brought down inside the Tunisian defense but his penalty appeal was ignored by central referee Clement Franklin Kpan.
Farlarkun who came close to scoring inside the first half of the match kept the visiting side defense very busy and troubled whenever he was in possession of the ball as for midfielder Tweh, his splendid control on the ball couple with his direct long range passes as well as perfect defensive qualities overly impressed the fans on Wednesday.
Lonestar also continue the second and final half of the game with a fascinating display but again failed to get the needed goal.
Edward Ledlum and skipper Oscar Murphy Dorley’s second half three chances could have leveled things out for Liberia or even won the game but the duo were very poor in finishing.
At the closing stages of the game , Coach Kojo made four substitutions and introduced fresh legs as the two local based players, Jagbe Konneh and Nicholas Andrew’s combinations in the midfield including the attacks helped terrified the defense of Tunisia yet the young side was unlucky to see the ball at the back of Goalkeeper Aymen Dahmen’s net.
Lonestar at some point looked a bit exposed in defense and give away two quick corners but the magic hands of Tommy Songo’s calculations between the sticks saved the Lonestar from conceding further goals.
Even though it was a collective defeat but Coach Kojo was quick to identify the issues with his squad and promise to work on them in the next match.
The team especially the local base players Kojo said trained ahead of time but the foreign based he stated came a bit late and that may have also affected their performance at some point but he is certain that with four to five days to train in group, he is sure of a far more bigger performance on Monday.
“We played well but got defeated by an early minute goal but we will regroup, work well on finishing as well as our urgency in attacks and other areas on the pitch”, he told sports reporters during post match press Conference.
Meanwhile, in a shocking scene, Liberian fans following the narrow one zero defeat dance and cheer the team’s performance.
According to them, the young players played well but were unlucky to score.
“We even had two disallowed penalties but is okay, we will do better and we are sure of wining Sao Tome with the current team we have and if they can maintain performance, we will crush Sao Tome”, they told our reporter.
The defeat of Liberia puts the Lonestar in third place in a group of six with seven points as a win on Monday depending on other results will see Liberia climb second with 10 points while Tunisia now sits on top of the zone with thirteen points from five games played and is expected to battle Namibia on Monday in a late night kickoff at home while Malawi will face Equatorial Guinea in early kickoff on Monday respectively.
