Africa-Press – Liberia. The journey to the grand final of the National County Sports Meet will begin today January 11, 2023, with two matches in both football and kickball at the Samuel K. Doe Sports Complex.
Defending champions in the football and Kickball version of the tournament Nimba and Lofa counties will be hoping to reach the final for the second time in succession and go on and retainer their title.
Nimba, Bong, Lofa, and Margibi counties are the last four teams in the race for the two finalists’ spot in the kickball category of the competition.
For the Football category Nimba, Margibi, Lofa, and Bong who has a protest case are the teams fighting to secure a place in the grand final.
In the football hostility defending champions Nimba county will face Margibi county in the first semi-final match at the Samuel K. Doe Sports complex.
Nimba and Margibi match has been considered by fans and football pundits as the final before the finals.
Both teams have been a long-time rivalry since 1978 knockout round when Nimba County defeated Margibi County 3-1 to advance to the semi-finals and went on to capture their first County meet trophy.
Nimba secure their place in the semi-final after a hard-fought 3-2 win over Rivercess County in the quarter-final while Margibi county beat Montserrado County 2-0 in their last eight matches on Sunday, January 8 .
Nimba County has won the National County Sports Meet on five different occasions with the first and second coming in 1978 and 1979.
Nimba won her third and fourth trophies in 2010 against Grand Gedeh and 2011 against Margibi County with their fifth coming in 2022 against Gbarpolu County.
Meanwhile, Margibi County has won the County meet on two different occasions all against Nimba County with the first coming in the 1984 final and the 2012 final since then Margibi County has failed to lift the Nation’s biggest trophy.
Margibi County came close to lifting the trophy for the third time when she lost to Bomi County in the 2019 final in a post-match penalty.
In the other Football match Lofa has a task against Bong county who has a protest against them.
Bong county beat Maryland County 4-3 in the quarterfinal but Maryland file a protest against Bong for allegedly using over five Illegal players.
Up to press time the result from the protest committee was not released.
Meanwhile in the Kickball semi-final defending Kickball Champions, Lofa will face Margibi county.
Lofa made it to the semi-final after a 1-0 home run victory over Grand Bassa county in the quarterfinal while Margibi beat Grand Kru County 6-4 home runs to advance to the last four of the tournament.
Lofa are hoping to reach their second final and win the title for the second times in succession.
Nimba will take on Bong County in the day’s first match.
Bong county sealed the final slot after a 1-0 home runs over Montserrado county while Nimba best Rivercess 4-2 home runs.
The final of the tournament will be played on Sunday, January 15, 2023 between winners of the semi-final matches.
In the basketball version of the county meet Lofa progress to the semi-final following a 69-37 win over Grand Gedeh.
Nimba County also secure the last four spot with a 51-42 win over Rivercess in the first quarterfinals game.
This year’s tournament is played under the theme“ Liberia A nation celebrating 200 years of existence maintaining the peace through women’s sports participation,”
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