The Liberian FA has dissolved the national football team in an attempt to go "back to the drawing board" and rebuild following a poor showing at Mali 2002.

FA President Edwin Snowe told BBC Sport Online that the squad has disbanded and will in future be based on promising youngsters.

Snowe said the dissolution would not last for long, but that with Liberia out of the Nations Cup and George Weah retiring, it was the optimum time to "step back and regroup."

"There are players with us who have been two years without a club," he pointed out.

He said that instead, the future of Liberia would be based around players from the country's Under-20 and Under-17 teams, in a way akin to Mali and Ghana, two of the teams who have been very successful at the Nations Cup.

Stumbling block

"We will cope with this reality," he affirmed.

But he acknowledged that there was still one stumbling block to his masterplan.

"For some reason we are not selling this to George (Weah) very well," he mused.

Weah appeared on radio in Liberia saying that the disbanding would damage Liberia.

"Except for Captain Nagbe, Debbah and I who have had at least twelve to fifteen years on the Lone Star, the rest of the team are young and need to be maintained and supported adequately," he stressed.

He instead attributed the team's poor showing at Mali to the lack of Governmental and FA interest.