Koneh Hits Liberia To Scout Liberian Players

October 30, 2006

A renowned Liberian soccer promoter and sports consultant of the African Soccer Agency, Mr. Mohamed Koneh has returned to the country after 16 years to scout young Liberian starlets for big leagues.

Speaking to the INQUIRER Newspaper upon his arrival in the country on last Friday, as head of a two-man delegation, Koneh said that for the past sixteen years, he has been involved in the process of scouting other African players in and around the continent. He said with the level of improvement that he has noticed in Liberian Football they have come back home to help Liberian players get out there.

Mr. Koneh who was involved in the scouting of Joe Nagbe, Victor Konwlo, Arthur Fahr, George Weah and James Debbah amongst others, was quick to point out that amongst all the African Countries he has visited, he has never seen a country so gifted with talents like Liberia and so has come with a foreign coach to scout two players for now.

He said that there are lots of opportunities for players out there, but it requires recommendation from a renowned soccer promoter or a well-known scout-something he noted they have come to do so as to build a new soccer generation for Liberia since the old one has passed.

The renowned Liberian soccer promoter explained that due to the long years of instability in the country, he has been working with players from Nigerian, Cameroon and the Central Africa Republic as well as Gabon, and wishes that with the full cooperation from the Liberia Football authorities he can do more for Liberian players.

Commenting in detail about the objective of their mission to Liberia, Mr. Koneh disclosed that he brought along with him the sports director of the Coton Sports Association in Cameroon, Boubakary Oumarou who was interested in scouting players that will help his team participate in the African Clubs Championship.

He added that Coton is six-time consecutive champions of the Cameroonian Football Association National League and has qualified for the CAF Club championship. As the result they are interested in getting more players to beef up and boost the capacity and playing prowess of their squad for the continental competition.

According to Koneh, Mr. Oumarou was contemplating on going to some other African countries to scout players, but he managed to convince the Cameroonian club official to visit Liberia because as he said, " there are more up-coming George Weahs in Liberia and several other more talents in the country."

The international sports consultant asserted that majority of the Liberian players outside Liberia have been facing serious problems because of what he called " they are lack of managers and don't want to be patient in arranging for a contract".

For his part the sports director of the Coton Sports Association, Oumarou said that Liberia has many talents and will not regret getting players from Liberia.

He added that one good thing about Liberian players is that they are very skillful, have extra talents and have been classified as one of the best sportsmen with soccer skills- growing countries in Africa.

The delegation will also be meeting with sports executives in the country and will also be holding a two-day test match at the James Spriggs Payne Air field playing pitch in Sinkor where players will be justifying their inclusion.

The team is expected to go through the scouting exercise in one week and following that, they will prepare the players for the trip to Cameroon.