Liberia confirms October 11 arrival date

As injuries, late arrivals hit Lone Star camp

LFA president Musa Bility and Cellcom boss Avishai Marziano

Liberia FA has confirmed that Lone Star will arrive in Nigeria on Thursday, October 11 and leave 24 hours after the Saturday, October 13 2013 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match in Calabar.

LFA president Musa Bility confirmed this on Monday during the unveiling of the travel plans of the team in Monrovia.

Newsblitzz gathered that a telecommunications company in Liberia has chartered a 145-seater (McDonnell Douglas -82) plane to fly the Lone Star to Calabar for the cracker against the Super Eagles. The plane will fly players, technical crew, support staff and fans that are selected via a nationwide raffle draw by the telecommunications company.

According to the travel schedule revealed by Bility on Monday, the chartered flight will depart Liberia’s Roberts International Airport in Monrovia on Thursday, October 11 and return on Sunday, October 14.

But the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) through its Musa Ahmadu lamented on Tuesday in a press release that the LFA is yet to communicate all these information to the Federation.

Meanwhile, injury worries and late arrivals have robbed Lone Star camp of its much expected liveliness, we have gathered.

The number of players in the team’s temporary camp in Niamey, capital of Niger is so lean that the players cannot train properly. Furthermore, the match to be played against the Nigerien national squad had to be postponed for 24 hours because of the absence of Liberia’s foreign pros.

Three talismanic players for the squad, Patrick Gerthard, Jimmy Dixon and Omega Alamadine Roberts have been confirmed out of the tie in Calabar due to injuries.

In Monrovia, the mobilization committee for Lone Star has managed to acquire the promised funds needed for the team. Our correspondent gathered from local sources that the Committee over the weekend acquired a total of $277, 000 (about N43million) that was contributed by five government agencies and a foreign business tycoon.

According to reports from Monrovia, the breakdown is thus: Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) gave 63,000 dollars, the National Oil Company of Liberia (NOCAL) gave 62,000 dollars, the National Port Authority donated 59,000 dollars Liberia Petroleum Refining Company added 58,000 dollars, National Social Security and Welfare Corporation (NASSCORP) gave 25,000 dollars while 10,000 dollars came from the foreign businessman.