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Soccer News of Friday, 13 June 2003

Source: GNA

Liberia To Adopt Ghana

The Liberian Senior National team, the Lone Stars would be compelled to honour their African Cup of Nations qualifying match against Guinea slated for Saturday June 21 at the nations Wembley, Accra Sports Stadium due to the unrest in that country.

The Liberians have sent a delegation to the country to hold talks with the Ghana Football Association, (GFA) and according to information chanced upon by the GNA, they are likely to get the nod.

According to the sources, the game, which was billed for Monrovia on Sunday June 22, would however be shifted to Saturday, June 21 because the Black Stars have a similar assignment against the Cranes of Uganda in Kumasi on Sunday. The Liberians are expecting the FA to provide all the needs of both the Lone Stars and that of their opponents, which the world governing body, FIFA, are expected to reimburse to Ghana's FA at a later date.

PLB Chairman, Sylvester Mensah said that following the request of the Liberians a three-man committee has been formed to see to the needs of the Liberians. Owuahene Acheampong will chair the Committee. The other members are Messrs S.D. Donkor and Richard Quarshie as members.

Mensah also confirmed that the first leg Olympic qualifier against Liberia, which was scheduled for Monrovia on Sunday, June 15, has now been rescheduled for the Obuasi Len Clay Stadium on Wednesday, June 25 with the second leg taking place at the Accra Sports Stadium on Sunday, June 29.

The PLB boss said the Board was compelled to postpone three league matches at the weekend and at the lastminitebecause of the number of players from Kotoko, Liberty Professionals and Obuasi Goldfields who are currently in the Stars and Meteors teams. He noted that those outstanding matches would probably be honoured after the Ghana - Uganda match on June 22.

Indications are that the Liberians would continue to use Ghana as their home in all their qualifying games as long as the unrest continues.

It would be recalled that FIFA at the beginning of the week rescheduled a similar assignment between Ghana's Black Meteors and their Liberian counterparts in an Olympics Games qualifier.