Jericho-Seator 'Marriage' Continues


              Seator would carry the captain's armband

By Julu M. Johnson, Jr.

The bond involving the head coach of the national football team of Liberia , Lone Star and that of skipper Frank Jean Seator remains in tact. Head coach Frank Jericho Nagbe has refused to be overcome by huge criticism of his decision to recall Seator on the national team.

The striker himself was lashed by the fans for failing to produce a goal during the June 3, 2007 African Cup of Nations Group Five decisive qualifier against the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon at the Antoinette Tubman Stadium (ATS) in Monrovia.

With the visitors eventually winning the match 2-1 via strikes from Stephane Mbia and Samuel Eto'o Fils, it was expected that Coach Nagbe would execute some major changes especially in attack where Seator together with his strike partner Francis Grand Pa Doe failed to pose any threat to a defense marshaled by the veteran stopper Rigobert Song, but it proves not to be.

Hence, from all indications, Seator would carry the captain's armband this coming weekend when the Lone Star takes on the national team of Equatorial Guinea , which beat Liberia 2-1 in Malabo and currently occupying second place with six points from four matches.

Swedish-based midfielder Dulee Johnson and left-full back Chris Gbandi of the US Major League Soccer (MLS) side FC Dallas were dropped for what has been termed as technical reasons. In comes another player from Sweden , Dioh Williams, who was suspended for the last game due to a bookable offense. He is being joined by another US-based defender Willis Forko, who plays alongside Freddy Adu at Real Salt Lake , and Eisaiah Benson, one of many Liberians playing in Indonesia .

What must have prompted the confidence Coach Nagbe has placed in Seator remains to be seen. But the Lone Star head coach was once upon a time critical of the very Seator and even the Indonesian league.

From the days of the famous "Weah Eleven" til this day, Seator has managed to score a single goal that came when the Lone Star beat the Black Stars of Ghana during the combined qualifiers of the 2002 African Nations and World Cups hosted in Mali nd Korea/Japan respectively.

Subsequent matches for Seator ended in several near misses, notably the match with Ghana in Monrovia that cost Liberia a place at the 2002 World Cup in Asia .
He is well known for being blessed with good fighting spirit but finishing in front of goal seems to be his taboo.

Seator left Mighty Barrolle (where he was popularly known as 'shoulder pad') to ply his trade overseas. All of a sudden, he was a hit in the media for reportedly scoring goals here and there in countries such as Kuwait , Qatar and Malaysia . Now in Indonesia , the giant forward has failed to justify his status as the new found skipper of the Lone Star.

Despite Seator not being able to convince his countrymen in his role as the man a nation of 3 million people rest their hopes on, Coach Nagbe still sees his captain as the one around whom the 'new team' can be built for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.