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No Friendly Matches May
Hurt Lone Star's Encounters
By Omari Jackson
December 26,
2002
It has been reported
that the national soccer team, Lone Star, is the only team in the current
qualifying series of the 2004 African Nations Cup that is not engaged, nor
is considering playing friendly matches towards their away encounter against
Ethiopia on the weekend of March 28 2003.
During the past couple of weeks, Ethiopia, Guinea, Niger,
Nigeria, South Africa, Tunisia and Egypt have all been busy, straighten up
their rough edges and reconditioning and restructuring their strategies for
their next round encounters.
Of interest is the fact that in the current
campaign, all the teams in the Liberian zone have all won their home matches
handsomely : Guinea won 3-1 against the Lone Star in their return to
international competition and Niger won 3-1 over Ethiopia also at home.In
their next home matches, Liberia and Ethiopia both managed a thin 1-0 wins
over Niger and Guinea respectively. Now the two teams who had won their
opening matches with more goals will be receiving their next opponents at
home.
While Liberia will be away to Ethiopia, Niger
will be away to Guinea and with a rejuvenated Sily Nationale exploring their
home advantage at home before a sell-out crowd, the result can be anybody's
guess. However, the fact that Ethiopia won their first match 1-0 at home may
not be sufficient ground to conjecture that they may be able to win their
encounter, it is safe to assume that the Lion of Juda's warriors may fight
and fight well against the Lone Star of Liberia.
What may boost the morale of the Ethiopians could
be the absence of legendary soccer king, George Weah, and "celebrated star"
James Debbeh, from the national squad. It can be entertained that were these
two dare-devil duo on the line-up of the national squad, the Ethiopians may
be considering their chances even before the fateful day.
Hence, with Weah and his group's absence from the
Lone Star, more training and trial matches are needed for the team to
adequately prepare for, not only the Ethiopian encounter, but subsequent
encounters. No one need to inform sports officials that success does not
come by inaction. Even in the game itself, to win is to play and justify
your
inclusion. It does not worth it to attempt if you are not prepared. Ethiopia
has recently participated in the Central and the East African Challenge Cup
while the Liberian home-based Lone Star may be, "drinking groundpee soup,"
as the ordinary Liberian will say, for their "non-participation in friendly
or test matches." I am inclined to believe that those at the decision making
outfit of Lone Star's matches may not be too committed to see the team's
success. And whether their action borders on the current economic problems
or just plain disinterest needs to be investigated.
But assuming that it is everybody's desire for the Lone
Star to be successful, it then becomes the responsibility of the decision
makers to ensure that the Lone Star is tested adequately for their
assignments. With Liberia's recent and current war experience, it is not an
understatement to say that no battle was approached without adequate
strategy, and Lone Star's campaigns demand nothing less. |
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