Bafana Bafana’s opponents, Liberia, will have a new man in charge when the two sides meet to play back-to-back matches for the Africa Cup of Nations [Afcon] qualifiers in September.
The Lone Stars head coach Peter Butler’s contract expires end of August and indications are that he will not be staying. The two nations are in a group of three, in Group K alongside high-flying Morocco following the suspension of Zimbabwe by FIFA.
FARPost can reveal that the former Platinum Stars mentor, who joined the Lone Star in 2019, is only left with six weeks on his contract as both parties have a mutual agreement not to extend.
In his three-year stay as coach of Liberia, the 55-year-old faced many difficulties with the national team. The major one was having to play all their home matches away from home due to the Confederation of African Football’s ruling that Liberia have no international-standard stadium.
“No home fixtures for two years nine months, played 2 home fixtures back in 2019 and won both, every game away from home flying hours to away & neutral venues. It’s not easy in Africa whilst trying to build momentum and confidence whilst building a young group,” the former Botswana coach tweeted last month.
This negatively affected the Englishman’s plans as he was still assembling his team, which was entirely made up of young players, who needed support from their compatriots.
The former West Ham midfielder was in-charge for 20 games in all competitions. He registered five victories, suffered 14 and had one stalemate.
The expulsion of Zimbabwe left the group-wide open as the teams will now play four games each. Morocco sits at the table’s summit with six points from two matches, while South Africa and Liberia are on zero points after suffering defeats from Morocco, respectively.
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