Liberia Beats São Tome and Principe to Keep Qualifier Hope Alive

Liberia secured a 2-1 victory against São Tome and Principe in the sixth match of group H for the 2026 World Cup qualifiers on Monday.

Nicholas Andrews and Bryant Farkarlun were the goal scorers for Liberia, with Andrews netting the first goal just four minutes into the game–igniting hopes for a win at the Samuel Kayan Doe Sports Stadium. Later, in the 32nd minute, a long throw from Nelson Laomie was perfectly headed in by Bryant Farkarlun, marking their second goal and giving Liberia their first victory under new coach Thomas Kojo.

Right before halftime, at the 44-minute mark, Do-Sacramento from São Tome and Principe made a strike with a right-footed shot that found the pocket of the net. However, Coach Kojo’s team managed to hold off the pressure and defended their goal effectively.

Kojo expressed his appreciation for his players following Monday’s victory, referring to his team's performance against São Tome and Principe as a "tactical gain.”

“Thanks to all my players, the guys that started, the guys that were on the reserve and came in later on” responding to one of the journalists in the room he said “Yes from what you said is your own opinion that this wasn't one of the team best performance, but I will defer with that because if you analyze the first half we dominated the game for the entire 45 minutes.

“In the second half, yes! We did not score but I believe that the players tactically we were okay, physically we got stronger, but at the end of the day what's more important we got the three points.

Kojo highlighted the foreign player who was invited but did not participate in any minutes of play.

“This is the national team, the national team comprises of players that play in Europe, play in Liberia locally, so a doesn't mean because they playing local that means they should be subordinate to players that play in Europe, No! I defer with that” responding to group of journalists at the post-match press conference “You don't make it look like la only Liberia coaches called players, and they don't play, check all the other countries around”

At present, Liberia holds the third position with a total of ten points, facing strong competition from Namibia, and Tunisia group leader. Their upcoming World Cup Qualifier match is scheduled for September 3, 2025, against Tunisia, where Liberia will aim to regroup and secure a victory to match the head-to-head record with Tunisia's Eagles of Carthage.