Liberian Soccer Final Ends Prematurely

July 1, 2005

T he grand finale soccer championship between Margibi county and Grand Bassa county that was organized by OLM, (Organization of Liberians in MN) did not produce a winner. The game was cut short at the 65 th minute to give way to the Minnesota Thunder and Seattle Sounders US league game.

At the time the game was stopped, neither of the two teams that were playing had scored. The game played at James Griffin Stadium in St. Paul , was supposed to start at 4pm but did not kick off till 5pm because the field was being used by the Eritrean community for a cultural and sports event that had attracted Eritreans from all over of North America and some parts of Europe . It took a while to get the hundreds of participants off the field to allow the Liberian final to begin.

The Liberian tournament is an annual event involving Liberian counties represented in the Twin Cities , according to the OLM Sports Committee Secretary General Mr. Seyon Nyanwleh. His committee had hoped to get a total of 15 counties but only 10 participated in this year’s tournament. The tournament started on June 18 and the stopped July 2 game was the grand finale.

Minutes before this edition of Mshale went to press, Mr. Nyanwleh called to confirm that the final game had been rescheduled to the next day, July 3. A prior scheduled event was to be held on the evening of July 3 at First Avenue , a Minneapolis downtown club to award the trophy to the winner.

Mr. Sackie Kennedy, the chairman of the OLM sports and cultural events, a former FIFA referee, told the press that his aim was to hold an African cup of nations here in the twin cities next year.