Liberia will kick-off their 2023 Africa Cup of Nation qualifying campaign against Morocco at the Stade Mohamed V in Casablanca on Monday evening.
Kick-off is at 1900hrs (GMT).
The Lone Stars will be looking to break a lengthy absence from the Africa Cup of Nations finals, having not appeared at the tournament since the 2002 edition in Mali.
Their attempt to reach the 2021 edition in Cameroon saw them eliminated by Chad at the preliminary stage of the competition.
Peter Butler, the Liberia coach, will be hoping to guide the team to break the jinx for over two decades by starting with a positive result against the Atlas Lions.
Liberia come into the match in a run of seven defeats in their last eight outings across all competitions, with a 3-1 victory over Central African Republic in an World Cup qualifier in November 2021.
The Lone Stars were out of action last week due to Zimbabwe’s disqualification from Group K following the Southern African country’ government’s interference in the federation’s activities.
Morocco , meanwhile, opened their 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualification campaign with a 2-1 win over South Africa and will be looking to take total control of Group K when they face Liberia.
The Atlas Lions coach Vahid Halilhodzic looked unsatisfied and acknowledged that there are things to do, and tactics progress to be made.
“The boys played well but failed in the achievement by missing a lot of chances. But we must still congratulate them for their combativeness, their will and for their quality of play,” the coach said.
“Now, we must rest and treat the little [injuries] before preparing for the match against Liberia.
“And of course, I’m waiting for another victory… a second and we’ll almost be qualified for the next Afcon.”
In head-to-head stats, Liberia and Morocco have met in three matches with Atlas Lions winning two matches compared to one for the Lone Star.
