Liberia Announce 16 Foreign-Based Players Who’ll Face Bafana

Liberia coach Thomas Kojo has announced 16 foreign-based players in his squad for the two clashes against Bafana Bafana this month in the AFCON qualifiers.

However, many of these players are not known in South Africa because clubs they play for are not the best in Europe.   

But coach Kojo, who assumed the post in September last year, is likely to call up someone that might be familiar to South Africans – former Mpumalanga Black Aces striker Kpah Sherman, when he announces his full squad, including Liberia-based players.

The 31-year-old attacker, who now plays for Sri Pahang at home, was signed by Muhsin Ertugral in 2015 but only featured in five matches for Aces, two as a starter before leaving at the end of that season without scoring a goal.

That was after Cape Town City boss John Comitis had purchased the status of Aces. Sherman was part of the Liberia side that lost to Egypt in a friendly match in September, the last time Liberia played.

They had a friendly match against Gambia in November cancelled due to unknown reasons, while Bafana played two friendly matches in that month against Mozambique, a 2-1 win and a 1-1 draw with Angola.

Liberia will face Bafana on 24 March at Orlando Stadium and the return leg will take place in Monrovia four days later.

Both nations lost their opening matches against Morocco, who are on top of Group K with six points. If Bafana would win both matches against Liberia, they will secure qualification for the AFCON finals in Ivory Coast next year.   

That is because the group was narrowed to three nations after Zimbabwe could not overturn their FIFA ban.

Morocco, unlike Liberia and Bafana, will not play the qualifiers until June. They will play two friendly matches against Brazil and Peru this month, before visiting Bafana in winter.