The Liberia Football Association has finally agreed to accept coach George Weah`s plans for the Lone Star to prepare for Mali 2002 in the Ivory Coast.
FA President Edwin Snowe has inspected the Binger-ville sports facilities in Abidjan and says they are suitable.
Weah demanded that the team train abroad to avoid the distractions of preparing at home.
"We agree with Weah, but we want him to first come to Monrovia for consultation on some administrative and technical matters", said a top FA official.
Relations between Weah and Liberian football officals are at a low ebb.
Time running out
Edwin Snowe has refused to comment on why there is such bad blood after what has been an exceptional year for the Lone Star.
But problems began to surface after local media reported that the FA had refused to nominate Weah for a senior post with the Confederation of African Football.
Weah last week resigned as the FA`s Vice-President for
InternationalAffairs following the dispute over preparing for the Nations Cup.
It followed the embarrassment of having to cancel a friendly against Egypt in Cairo after only eight Liberian players arrived for the game.
The Lone Star are in danger of being woefully ill-prepared for Mali.
Out-of-contract players were asked to report for training in Monrovia by 15 November.
But only two of the fifteen have shown up.
Weah has never been keen on coming to the Liberian capital to train before the Nations Cup.
He is the only figure that the players truely trust and respect, and many appear to have followed his lead.
The FA admits that it could be difficult to raise morale before Liberia play in the opening game of the tournament against Mali on 19 Jan.
It needs to patch up the relationship with Weah and to organise some quality friendly games.
But time is against the Lone Star and the thrill of haiving qualifying could end up being a nightmare.
