“Debbah Will
Play Ethiopia Match”
-Says Josiah N. Johnson (JNJ)
March
17, 2003
“Liberia’s Celebrated soccer star James Salinsa Debbah
has commenced training with the Lone Star and will play in Ethiopia,”
those were the words of former Lone Star coach and veteran football
technical Josiah N. Johnson, alias JNJ.
In a chat with our Correspondent over the weekend, JNJ
said Debbah is prepared to influence other foreign-based players
invited by the technical staff of the Lone Star through the Liberia
Football Association (LFA) to honor the Ethiopia match.
Commenting further JNJ added, “Debbah and his colleagues in
persons of George Weah, Joe Nagbe and Kelvin Sebwe can still play up
to 2006 because football is their career.”
JNJ’s statement comes at the time when soccer fans are
thinking whether the celebrated soccer star will play in Ethiopia
following his interview on DC Television. Debbah said during the
program that it was time that younger and talented players are given
preference on the Lone Star because they the older players have
nothing to prove to the Liberian people as far as the game of football
is concerned.
Also Lone Star coaches had publicly appealed to those
professionals who are already in the country to join the local players
in training for the Ethiopia match.
There have been rumors that some of the foreign-based
players invited wanted to know what will be offered by government for
their services to the team. In the past the government paid them
US$5,000 for each match played.
But with the present economic situation, it is not
known what government will offer the foreign-based players. This paper
learned that during the match in Guinea, government paid those
foreign-based invited US$400 as game perdiem and also reimbursed them
for their air tickets.
|
|
