In June 2001 Liberia came close to causing the biggest surprise in African World Cup history.

Under the guidence of George Weah they were on the verge of qualifying for Korea and Japan.

But the dream was dashed when the Lone Star lost 2-1 at home to Ghana, and Nigeria instead qualified from their group.

And it is extremely unlikely that Liberia will come anywhere near as close a reaching a World Cup finals for many, many years to come.

Few of the players that were in that team are playing in Europe any longer.

Indeed the majority are struggling to find clubs anywhere and have stopped playing regularly.

The three key figures in the side, technical director George Weah, striker James Debbah and midfielder Kelvin Sebwe are in the United Arab Emirates.

George Gebro is the only player confirmed as playing in Europe, and is with Greek side Prakaikos.

Oliver Makor is thought to still be in Greece too, although his whereabouts could not be confirmed by his team-mates.

Prince Daye is now in Tunisia after a long spell at Bastia in France while John Menyongai still holds up at Minnesota Thunders in the USA.

Zizi Roberts, Joe Nagbe, Frank Seator, Louis Crayton, Musa Shannon, Varmah Kpoto and Alex Browne - all key players in the World Cup campaign - are still looking for employment.

It creates a huge problem for Liberian football.

George Weah had hoped one of them would have taken over from him to maintain the country's good name in Europe.

"I don't think it is good for the Liberian Football Program and the National Team," he said.

"Prince Daye is good enough to be in any European side. I admire and respect him as one of the most talented I had in my side, but I don't know why he settled for the Tunisian League."

Weah says it is a mystery to him why there was such a sudden retreat from Europe to lesser leagues in Africa and the Middle East.