Africa-Press – Liberia. Liberia’s Spain-based defender Jeremy Saygbe has been dropped by the technical staff of the national team for breaking the team’s camping and code of conduct rules.
Peter Butler and his technical staff reached the decision after it was reported to the Liberia Football Association (LFA) that the RB Linense defender was caught with a female in his hotel room following Liberia’s 2-1 loss to Cape Verde in a World Cup Qualifying match in Ghana.
LFA President Mustapha Raji confirmed Butler’s decision on State Radio ELBC 99.9FM on Saturday, 9 October and said the FA has done the arrangement for the player’s return to his club in Spain.
“We respect the decision of the technical staff because the head coach made the decision and as part of our responsibilities at the LFA is to ensure the player exits the camp, like in this case, return to Spain.
”We have communicated with RB Linense over the situation with their player…It’s about Liberia and we need to be focused when we attend these competitions,” Raji told ELBC’s Super Sports.
Saygbe has featured in all three qualifying matches in the second rounds of the 2022 Qatar World Cup campaign including 66 minutes as right-back in Lone Star’s painstaking 2-1 defeat to the Blue Sharks on Thursday.
It not yet known if the female was that was found in the players room was his lover or family member but having a visitor in a playroom while on national team duty is unacceptable.
Meanwhile, LPRC Oilers’ defender Ben Benaiah is the likeliest candidate to replace Saygbe who was already suspended from the next match if Butler opted for a natural defender, but Marcus Macauley could be a real fit having featured in that role on Match Day 1 and 2 against Nigeria and CAR respectively.
