After The Exit, What’s Next For Liberia?



Written by Dennis Toe
tdennisson1@yahoo.com



When Lone Star forced Zimbabwe’s Warriors to a 1-1 draw at the Samuel Kanyon Doe Stadium (SKD) last October, I concluded to a friend who watched the game with me that the slip would cost us a place at the Nations Cup.

He didn’t believe and argued that the lost points would be accounted for in one of the away matches. I asked him which country he thought could surrender their pride to Liberia. He answered Zimbabwe or Cape Verde. I wish him well and didn’t argue further.

On Sunday, the dust finally settled in spite of huge financial promise from government. Liberia’s flag will not be flown in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. Our boys were unmercifully hammered 3-0 by Zimbabwe.

The challenge that comes is what is next for Liberia? A lot of theories will be sounded over the coming days. Some will call for the dissolution of the team; the exit of the technical staff; or Liberia suspends herself from all international competitions for an unspecified period.

All of the factors above could be good reasons but will they help the situation? In 2002, we witnessed the team being dissolved when it failed to make an impact in Mali. We never saw international football until November 2003.

The government of chairman Gyude Bryant jumped started a process that saw Lone Star beat Gambia in Monrovia 3-0 to qualify for the group stage of the joint 2006 Nations Cup and World Cup qualifier. Again, Lone Star performance in the group was very dismal.

I wish not to bore you with what has been transpiring until now. It has been the same old story. The problem we face with football in Liberia is not the lack of talents but rather a combination of two factors.

Factor 1: The first problem that Liberia has been facing and will continue to face unless something is done is the lack of an administrative blueprint that will be aimed at football development.

The youth football development which should be the cream of our football program is non-existence. What we’ve tried to do over the years is to put together an ad-hoc program for the youths when a competition for under-17 or under-20 is coming up.

Just this year alone, two major youth tournaments (World Cup U-17 & 20) were staged in Mexico and Columbia respectively. As I watched African countries like Ivory Coast, Rwanda and Burkina Faso; Nigeria, Mali, Egypt and Cameroon participate in those competition, my heart bled for young players who played in street corners around the country but cannot be seen at such a stage because of the lack of programs to tap them.

Our national league has been of no help to the development of football over the years. We compete in a so-called premier league that lacks quality and pace. Individuals have to fight sweat and blood to maintain their teams in this league. When they win the title and qualify for international competitions, they are rendered toothless financially to participate.

And this is the league we expect to produce the next generation of players for the national team. This seems not to bother the FA. And when I look at things then I’m left to ask, what is the sponsorship from Cellcom used for? How much of it goes to the teams and match officials for which a pending boycott is in sight from the referees? How much is used for football development?

The Ministry of Youth and Sports and FA need to develop a program (U-15, 17 & 20) that will hold exclusive tournaments for our youths for their talents to be tapped for transition to the national team. The county meet is not sufficient.

Factor 2: The second factor which is eating our football is the unwillingness of those who are given the chance to don our national colors to live up to the challenge. Most of our players have grown more wings than they can fly with, once they are mentioned in the press of having potentials. Without striving to build up on what is mentioned of them, they see themselves in the company of the likes of the E’toos, Rooneys, Ronaldos and the rest of the super stars.

They even tend to give up their God-given names for the names of those stars. In our national league, most of the players are concerned with leaving the country to play than concentrating on the success of the team that is trying to develop them. What a pity and fantasy!

In 2003 following the World Cup 2002, the Newsweek ran a cover story on Kaka, who now plays for Real Madrid. His talents were seen as immense that he was considered to be the next Pele of Brazil. Newsweek put it to Pele if their comparison was right.

He responded that the world will never have two Peles. He was the only Pele that came out of his mother womb. A response of this nature tells that you as a player can admire a particular player but you can never be like him. This, our players need to know, to put their acts together for the good of the game and their own future.

Those who claimed to be professional players and are invited for the game set no good examples. When they are called to perform national duties, pleasure overwhelms their passion for the game for which they are called. They roam Monrovia in an unruly manner not setting any good examples for the youngsters to copy. As a result of this, they never live up to expectation. This needs to stop.

I remember as a sports reporter prior to the war, when Weah and later Debbah and Nagbe who made professional football to be popular in Liberia came to play a game for Liberia, they would confine themselves to the team’s hotel until after the game for some form of recreation. But today, our players lack that discipline which has brought us to where we find ourselves today. A hefty amount of US$5,000 is unappealing to them.

What Next? The FA has consented to participate in the qualifiers for 2014 World Cup in Brazil. The team and the coaches need not to go. However, the FA needs to improve on its present programs if any and better prepare the players for the task ahead.

It is my understanding that by next month, Liberia will begin their journey to Brazil. The players that will be invited need to be told to raise their performance tides for Liberia. Discipline should be the hallmark of the next campaign coupled with a training program for the team. A youth development program should not elude us to face the phasing out of the present cream of players.

Good luck to all of us next time!