"It's possible, you'd just never know, one day we might make it into a World Cup . . . The problem about the Liberian Football Association is that they have the players but they don't have anything else by way of structures or organisation to build a good team. "For me, as an African, it's so sad because when you look at African players in the top European clubs, they are doing well. So if African (national) teams have problems, then that's because of the way sports associations are run in Africa."
The speaker is 32-year-old Liberian international and former European Player of the Year George Weah, who, next Sunday, leads out his native land in an African Nations' Cup qualifier against Uganda in Monrovia. For Weah, this current African Nations Cup campaign represents perhaps his last chance, if not to win something with Liberia, then at least to make it to the finals of a major competition. To qualify for those finals in Zimbabwe in February 2000, Liberia will have to come through a group which includes Algeria, Tunisia and, of course, Uganda. The road to Zimbabwe looked all the more uphill, following Liberia's unlucky 2-1 defeat away to Tunisia in their opening game last October in a match in which Tunisia's Adel Sellimi scored the winning goal in the 93rd minute.
Weah, though, is currently playing some of the best football of his career in a mouthwatering AC Milan attack that sees him partner Brazilian Leonardo and German Oliver Bierhoff, a golden spell which he says hasn't surprised him, despite his age. "For the last two seasons, I've had serious problems with my back and that that really stops you playing . . . "
Willing as he was to focus on Milan's current campaign (fourth in Serie A this week), Weah was even more interested in talking about his native land. His attachment to Liberia and his roots there is passionate. Ask him a question about the forthcoming game against league leaders Fiorentina and he will answer intelligently and politely. Ask him about the situation in Liberia and he becomes animated. "I'm hoping for a good game against Uganda. It's not easy for us, the country still has big economic problems. You know we players have to make sacrifices to play for our country, to create a positive image for Liberia, it's the only thing we can do."
His own image in his homeland needs no cultivation. When he returned to Liberia on holiday, he could only do so with the aid of 15 security guards around his villa. Ten seasons in European soccer, first with Monaco, then Paris St. Germain and now AC Milan, may have made him a rich man but he has not forgotten his roots.
"I'll keep going back to Liberia, that's where I was born and that's where I am going to die one day."
Like so many other major players from southern hemisphere countries, soccer, for Weah, was out of grinding poverty. His parents separated when he was just three months old, leaving him to be brought up, along with 12 brothers and sisters, by his grandmother, Emma, in Gibalta, Monrovia's dockland. In those days the family lived in a tin-roofed tenement that Weah once described as "dark, hot and humid". These days part of "the family" lives in New York where Weah owns two apartments while others have remained in Liberia. In the past, Weah used some of his considerable earnings to entirely finance and run his own club for youngsters, called Junior Professionals. These days, he digs into his own pocket to come up with equipment and pay for the training costs of the Liberian national team.
He says times are still hard. A vicious, eight-year civil war which formally ended when ex-warlord Charles Taylor was elected President in multi-party elections in 1997 have left their mark. Liberians and foreign observers say that President Taylor's government tends to focus more on armed security than on rebuilding a shattered society. The economy remains stagnant, with few Liberians or foreigners willing to invest in a country where potential political opponents are harassed (if not eliminated) and where the sense of war-zone still remains.
In such a context, soccer is not high on President Taylor's agenda. Yet, precisely because of the country's difficult socio-economic circumstances, Weah believes it is important for Liberia to play well and it is important for him to put his popularity at the service of his country:
"I've been playing for Liberia for 15 years now and I've got nothing from the national association, zero. On the contrary, I've given a lot . . . but what can I say, it's my country, this was not an obligation, it's something I wanted to do and I did it with my heart and I've no problems with that."
