By Johnbosco Agbakwuru
ABUJA- PRESIDENT George Weah of Liberia on Monday
said that the Nigeria’s Super Eagles is not only going to
represent Nigeria but the entire African continent.
President Muhammadu Buhari (r) with the visiting
President George Weah of Liberia briefing State House
Correspondents after their meeting at the Presidential
Villa in Abuja on Monday (5/3/18)
The Liberian President also warned Ministers especially
those in-charge of the Sports ministry to desist from the
habit of tampering with money meant for the welfare of
players during any tournament.
Weah stated this in an interview with the State House
correspondents after meeting with President
Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He expressed dismay over the attitude of African leaders
who always complain when it comes to investing in
sports, and thanked President Buhari for the qualification
of Super Eagles to the World Cup.
He said he was amazed when he met the President of
France, Emmanuel Macron who spoke passionately on
his sports agenda and how he plans to build capacity
through sports.
He said, “I have been fighting for so long for my national
team to qualify. Imagine, in the world best here in Africa,
the only world best.
And I said to President Macron, that
FIFA built one stadium in Liberia and we have one Balloon
d’Or, so if you build 10 stadia in Liberia, you will have 10
ballon d’Ors.
“I think Nigerian team is a model, we all followed them. I
have played with great Nigerian players, I played against
them. Now you have a new generation, the fact that they
qualified is a good thing for Nigeria.
“But I hope that they will prepare very early because they
are going to represent Africa and we will be there to
watch them, for them to bring the trophy for the first time
if it is possible.
But I think the seriousness to go to World
Cup is not to pay players to go, I want every African
government to know, if you win World Cup is a pride to
Africa, it is not just to Nigeria, so we must do everything
to ensure that the players are not stressed, make sure
they concentrate, make sure their incentives are given to
them to motivate them.
“Some of the things you see at the World Cup, you will
see an entire team go to represent a whole country and
you will hear that one minister took the money, they did
not pay these players and the players are causing
problem. When players are going to camp, it is to relax
and focus.
And for them to be in camp they must have
everything there for them not to worry.
“Remember I played in European setting, when we go
camp we have nothing to do. The only thing we have to
do is to take a shower and prepare for the game,
everything is laid down here and so you have no excuse.
“So let the players not have excuse, support them and let
them go and bring back that cup.”
On what he is doing to revamp sports in his country, he
said he had already started something and that he had
gone to meet World Bank and they are giving his country
$5 million to revamp the sports sector.
“As a former coach, technical director and former
sponsor of the national team, you know it is not only
football.
When Liberia goes to represent us at the
Olympics, we only see the officials drilling with our flags,
we don’t see any athletes.
“This year, we have made sure that all of our sports, we
will have someone to represent us and I will be there to
monitor them.
That is why we put a former player as the
sports minister that I will work with to revamp Liberia
National Team and I know he will do it best.
“And those techniques that made Liberia qualify twice and
missed the World Cup three times, I will make sure that I
work with him so that he can do the work and ensure that
our athletes go and represent our country.”
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