MONROVIA, Montserrado – With less than month before Lone Star begins the qualifying campaign for the 2019 African Cup of Nations, there has been some controversy over the list of foreign-based players invited for the upcoming encounter with Zimbabwe.

On Thursday, May 25, the Liberia Football Association, through its official Facebook page, issued the names of 14 foreign-based players invited for the encounter against the southern African nation, a list which included the unattached forward Dioh Williams and Indian League champion, Alfred Jaryan, who is expected to make his debut for the red, white, and blue outfit.

However, the head coach of the national team, James Salinsa Debbah, who is believed to have made available the list of players invited before it was released to the public, has distanced himself from the release, stating it was not signed by him.

When asked by OK FM sports reporter, Augustus Audekina-Doe on the OK FM weekend sports program on Sunday, May 28 about the players being invited, the 47-year-old coach threw back a question to the reporter asking if the list was signed by him.

Despite the OK FM reporter informing Debbah that the list was officially released by the Communications Department of the LFA, the national team boss called it a speculation.

The response from the national team boss has raised huge controversy among football fans and pundits over the poor working relationship between the technical staffs of the national team and the Liberia Football Association.

When contacted via mobile phone after Debbah distanced himself from the invited players list, the head of communications at the LFA, Horatio Bobby Willie, refused to comment on the matter.

In response to the controversy around the list of invited players, the president of the Liberia Football Association, Musa Hassan Bility, rejected Debbah’s claim and assured that the provisional list was provided by Debbah.

In a Facebook chat forum comprising of football stakeholders, coaches, and journalists, Bility wrote, “As far as I know, the list that was published was given to the LFA by the head coach as [a] provisional list, and was published as such.

“As a coach, he has the right to make any changes he wishes to make.”

Featured photo by T. Kla Wesley, Jr.