Weah
wants World Cup unity
Durosimi Thomas
BBC Sport
George Weah, the 1995 World and African Footballer of the Year, has
urged Africans to back the continent's five representatives at next
month's World Cup in Germany.
Weah, who contested the Liberian presidential election last October,
was commenting on fears that Africa might not perform well at the
tournament.
Ghana, Togo, Angola and the Ivory Coast will be making their World
Cup debuts where Tunisia are Africa's other representative.
At the recent African Nations Cup in Egypt, only Ivory Coast and
Tunisia progressed beyond the group stage out of Africa's five
finalists.
"Everybody has their own views but first of all let me congratulate
the teams who have qualified, I hope we give them our moral
support," Weah told BBC Sport.
The Liberian idol defended the four newcomers and suggested their
fortunes could be different in Germany.
"The Nations Cup has nothing to do with the World Cup and the
mistake they made in Egypt, these teams will correct in Germany.
"Since they played the Nations Cup, may be they have been preparing
themselves.
"But no matter what happened at the Nations Cup, we must not pull
our teams down.
"Those teams we think are great teams have been to the World Cup and
did not perform well."
Cameroon got the quarter-finals of the 1990 World Cup in Italy with
Senegal achieving a similar feat at their maiden tournament
appearance four years ago in Japan and South Korea.
Weah added that it is his hope that an African side wins the World
Cup or at least to do as well as Cameroon and Senegal did
previously.
"Africa must be proud of African teams and we hope they come out
like Cameroon did in 1990.
"Now some people think those who performed badly at the Nations Cup
will not do well.
"But as a former professional player I know why some teams you
expect to do well fail and the others who are unrated cause upsets,
and this can happen at the World Cup."
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