Editorial – Restoring the Lost Pride of Lone Star

The S.K.D. Sports complex in Paynesville, outside Monrovia will, on Sunday, September 5, 2010, be the scene of spectacular soccer display between the Zimbabwean National Team, the Warriors and Lone Star of Liberia.

The match is the start of the qualifying series in Group A of the 2012 African Cup of Nations scheduled to be co-hosted by Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. Two teams among Cape Verde, Liberia, Mali and Zimbabwe are to qualify for places in the competition scheduled for the dries of 2012.

This Sunday’s match is Liberia’s first major test, since Coach Bertalan Bicskei took over as manager to reform the National team, following their dismal performance in the last qualifying rounds for the 2010 Nations’ Cup in Angola.

With the high level of support from the Government of Liberia and Liberia Football Association, characterized by the high momentum and enthusiasms among the players and spectators, nothing less than victory is a must.

Such victory must start from the first sound of the referee’s whistle to the last, and must be backed by the continuous and thunderous cheers of the Liberian fans and spectators at the Samuel Kanyon Doe Sports Complex.

Our  Liberian players must also ensure discipline and good ball coordination, in terms of accuracies in their passes, as well as finishes in those passes within the vital  areas of the Zimbabweans, as Liberians cheer them all-the-way….

With their enthusiasms for their National Team revived once again by the current leadership of the Liberia Football Association, Liberians deserve no more “Lone Star did well”, but total victory, and we are of the fervent belief that the days of “Lone Star did well” are all over.

Again, while we cherish the representatives of our national colors, we are taken aback by the “bad blood” being infused into the team.

Discouragingly, such irresponsible attitudes are being perpetrated by our so-called “big players” in persons of strikers Francis “Grandpa” Doe, Dio Williams and Dulee Johnson.

Remember, such indiscipline exhibited by two of these players, Dulee and Grandpa, is not even something strange, as they were once suspected for behaviours not representative of professional players, but were pardoned on humanitarian ground.

The rudeness meted out against a Liberian sports journalist by Francis “Grandpa” Doe the other day is sufficient to characterize him the one would choose.

Like us, many Liberians are even wondering as to why these young fellows would want to ruin their national and international images, when  they are well knowledgeable about the fact that such would also negatively impact the careers abroad?

But again, we welcome the decision of Coach Bertalan Bisckei to completely drop them, with an “NTR” to serve as a deterrent to any other attempt to subject the morale of the Lone Star to un-necessary “good times, fun-fares and big shame.”

It is unfortunate that while Grandpa Doe, Dio Williams and Dulee Johnson are being disciplined by the Lone Star technical staff, a few football veterans with whom these players are connected, have again become sentimental, are appealing to the coach to reconsider his decision because of the so-called “fine qualities” they possess, as well as the necessity of the game.

Such action on the part of these veteran football technicians and players of the Lone Star is completely wrong.

That is why we are urging the Ministry of Youth and Sports and LFA to uphold the decision of Coach Bersckei, and not to be carried away by sentiments (thanks be to God that the LFA has given its blessing to the decision of the Coach).

There are equally, other local players capable of performing the same roles played by Doe, Johnson and Williams on the field of play.

The Coach must be left alone and given the opportunity to make all technical decisions in the interest of the success of our Flag Bearers, and then be “blamed” for such decisions and not those of others.

He must be left alone because own mean concern now is restoring the lost pride of our National Team, the Lone star.