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On Lone Star
Report: Avalanche of Phone-Calls Besieged Coach Darbaki
---Francis Doe, Prince Daye offer
support
Coach Youssef Darbaki and Francis Doe
By Omari Jackson
Atlanta, Ga (USA): Minnesota Twin Stars’ head-coach
Youssef Darbaki has been answering phone calls from Liberians across
the globe asking whether the report about his interest to coach the
Liberian national team is a fraud, and if it is not, then he must
please come and help.
“My cell phone has not stopped ringing from Liberians,” he told me
in a telephone interview Sunday from his based in Minnesota. “Many
of the callers wanted to know if I really wanted to do this.”
“Did you really talk to the reporter,” Coach Darbaki quoted callers
as asking him, “is it for real?”
“I assured them that I am willing to manage the team (Lone Star),”
he told curious callers, “the potential is amazing.”
He said his decision to make the pronouncement was due to many
budding players he has worked with in Minnesota and some of whom are
members of the team he presently manages (as the head coach),
Minnesota Twin Stars.
He said Liberian players from Europe and Liberians at home (in
Liberia) have all called on him to keep his promise to assist
Liberia.
“I’ve got calls from Greece, China, Italy and Spain,” he said. “The
players wanted me to keep my promise to Liberia.”
There were also calls and text messages from Liberians in Italy,
Liberia, Israel and the United States, all asking him to remain
truthful to his promise.
“From the calls,” he said, “I can understand how important soccer is
to Liberians, and this has encouraged me to a point that has excited
me.”
Even several coaches in Europe have called on him to wish him
farewell in his endeavor to provide technical assistance to Liberia,
where youthful soccer talents grow as if on trees, crying to be
developed to their highest potential.
In addition, he said, reporters from two radio stations in Liberia
called on him, and interviewed him on the prospects of assisting
Liberia, since there is a heightened interest in his offer, after
the story was reported on www.liberiansoccer.com,
www.theliberianjournal.com and www.peopletopeople.info, as well as
in local media in Monrovia.
In a text message from Liberia he received on Sunday, May 24, 2009,
at 10:03pm, a young Liberian, wrote, “Hi Coach Darbaki, greetings
and best wishes from Liberia, West Africa. Anyway my name is Major
N. Zammie, a (young) Liberian who love soccer. (I am writing you)
after reading your profile (in the media in Liberia). I appeal to
you to please take a stand to help elevate our national team due to
the civil war. Please help our team and I want to be like you please
reply. (The report about you) in the Liberian newspaper highly
esteemed (you) that you’re experienced in the soccer arena in Africa
and that of the world. And we wholeheartedly embrace you.
Coach Darbaki in his reaction to the text message above said it was
an emotional experience for him, to imagine a kid, in Liberia would
write to appeal to him to help his national team, “I think this is
an interesting thing and you can see the difference we can make in
other people’s lives.”
It was no argument the importance Liberians place on sports and it
was evidently a factor that Coach Darbaki could not fail to notice.
This also brought it home the fact that it was the only sports that
unified Liberians during the violence that raged during the
country’s civil-war.
Coach Darbaki said, “I am excited that many Liberians across the
globe will call me, offering encouragement and I think I see the
need now.”
His current team Minnesota Twin Stars FC plays in the National
Premier Soccer League (NPSL), sanctioned by the United States Adult
Soccer Association (USASA) an affiliate of the United States Soccer
Federation (USSF), the ruling body of soccer in the United States
and also the world's ruling body for soccer, FIFA.
His goal is to manage maturing players, he said, and provide them
with skills and knowledge that will lead them to the next level,
focusing on developing individual capabilities.
In addition, he said the following is what he would do for the
future Lone Star under his management:
* Manage the team professionally.
* Recruit Liberian top soccer talents from high schools, colleges,
and consult with former professional soccer players in Liberia,
Europe, Asia and the United States.
*Players in schools will practice and play at semi-professional
level while they maintain their college eligibility. (If they are
students in the United States.)
* Potential players will be showcased to college and professional
coaches in the United States and Europe, to open the avenue for
professional attachments to clubs.
* Consistent - high level training sessions (tactical, technical,
physical, and psychological).
* The team will play in top competitions in Africa, Europe and the
United States.
Meanwhile, top striker, Prince Daye, who last played in Qatar for
Al-Sailiyah FC, presently visiting the United States with his
family, said he believes coach Darbaki has a good plan to rebuild
the national soccer team.
“I’ve attended his training sessions,” he said, “and the evidence is
there that he has the ability and the vision to build a team, and he
will do the same for Liberia.”
“I’ve held several discussions with Coach Darbaki,” he said, “and I
can say with confidence that he is the right manager for Liberia.”
“He is an ambitious coach,” Prince Daye, one of Liberia’s powerful
strikers, said, “he is a capable coach.”
Prince Daye, with his beautiful wife, Saluwa, and their four
children, (all boys, he joked that they are all future Prince Dayes
who may follow his career path), said Liberian sports authorities
should accept the coach offer.
“I’ve played under coaches for teams like Maccabi Petach-Tikva of
Israel, CD Badajoz of Spain, Club Africain of Tunisia, SC Bastia of
France, and Al-Sailiyah of Qatar, and I can say with certainty that
my one-month training with Coach Darbaki proves how good he is as a
manager who knows his job,” he said.
Prince Daye revealed that he is planning to return to Europe or the
Middle East where his manager is seeking for a soccer contract for
him, promising to be available to play for the Lone Star in the
future.
D. C. United’s Liberian striker, Francis ‘Grandpa’ Doe told me in an
interview Sunday that Coach Darbaki is his man for the job.
Francis Doe, who has gotten a new contract to play in Sweden,
starting this April, (the 2nd Phase) for the next five years said,
“I’ve been called on to play for the Lone Star and most of the time
there was a situation where players were not satisfied with the
reception they received from the coaches.
“I’ve known Coach Darbaki since 2004 and besides everything he’s a
friendly person. Other players, including Dulee Johnson and Anthony
Lanford know him well and also know how good he is, and therefore
we’ll all work with him.”
Doe said Coach Darbaki has been like a father to him, offering him
advice in his soccer career, “and he ensures I am on the right
track.”
He said, “This is the coach Liberia needs right now.”
This seems to be the final positive verdict on Coach Youssef
Darbaki’s willingness to offer his professional and managerial
skills to resuscitate the national soccer team, Lone Star. And
Liberia must take this chance to make a difference, for it was
heartwarming that the government has infused dynamism, with the
USD20, 000.00 (US Twenty thousand dollars), to the Liberia Football
Association for grassroots soccer development.
Contact the author: jackson_omari@hotmail.com
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