IE Wounds Deepen Following Defeat to Traditional Rivals in President’s Cup

Invincible Eleven (IE) President Richard Tolbert

Written by Danesius Marteh
danesius.marteh@frontpageafricaonline.com



What moment of the 19-month-tenure of Invincible Eleven (IE) President Richard Tolbert has made you cheer?

Or have the events of the last one-month left you as sick as the proverbial parrot?

Well anyone, who is familiar with the yellow family’s internal and external problems, can probably response.

IE, depending on who you are and your analysis of things, are a club either on the brink of a crisis or experiencing one.

It received a hat-trick of defeats in three important off-season tournaments in recent days.

During the FC Fassell-Liberia soccer for peace tournament, IE topped group one with four points after drawing 1-1 with the hosts on November 2 and pinning Watanga FC 1-0 a day later at the Antoinette Tubman Stadium (ATS) respectively.

But they suffered a humiliating 0-5 defeat to Barrack Young Controllers (BYC) in the grand-finale at the ATS on November 6 when all hopes were high for silverware.

It was an incredibly eventful night for BYC president Sekou Konneh and a terrible night for Dr. Tolbert whose team beat BYC during the knock-out finale last season.

IE slumped to a 1-2 defeat to LISCR FC in a Super Cup match, the traditional curtain raiser, which pits the winners of the league and knock-out competitions, at the ATS on November 26.

And the final string was pulled when IE, who had to wait on traditional arch-rivals Mighty Barrolle for more than 15 minutes, lost 5-4 on post-match penalties after a 1-1 draw in the President’s Cup on December 1 at the ATS.

Those events have exposed two things: a leadership turmoil and the lack of manpower to deliver the goods for stand-in-coach Gray Hazel. Since the self-imposed sabbatical taken by Vice President Alfred Sayon on July 24, some of the players, he either personally recruited or believed in him, have seeking loan moves to rival teams.

With the resignation of Coach Clarence Lee Chea two games after guiding his side to last season’s knockout win over BYC, midfield prodigy Nana Gibson joined him at FC Fassell where he serves as director of football. On November 17, midfielder Momo Blamo, Jr. left Monrovia for Kuala Lumpur to play for Sime Darby FC in Malaysia for a year.

FrontPageAfrica (FPA) understands that goalie Clarence Roberts, defender Emmanuel Wanneh and striker Matthew Dede are unwilling participating in the new season amid the posture taken by Sayon.

IE is arguably one of the big teams who are yet to buy new players, thus forcing coach Hazel to rotate his limited squad. A visibly unpleased captain Trokon Zeon (rumored to be on his way out) openly asked Tolbert, who had gone to console the lad following their defeat to LISCR, about new faces. And this was the same view shared by the coach when he was asked what led to their defeat.

“It is the same aged old problem I have had since I took over [as acting coach of] the team. We need certain players for strategic positions. If you look at IE right now, we need a goalkeeper, central defenders and a midfielder because Momo Blamo just left the country.

“And we need a real striker who can punch for goals. So that is the reason for what we are going through right now. It is a phase and if you look at the whole structure of all the teams in Liberia, IE is the only team right now who have not even tried to buy a player yet and the league is about to start in two weeks.

“We heard that LISCR bought 15 players and the other people [are] building-up their teams. When will we start doing this? It is getting late. We got two weeks before the league can start,” Gray told FPA.

According to him, Tolbert has been told about the deficiencies within the team because results depend on how well and fast these problems can be resolved. But Tolbert has assured his technical that the needed manpower will be brought in time for the league.

“Well, I am very happy to be frank with you. You saw a lot of my old players today. They came together [against LISCR] but it was just a little bit of bad luck. But I saw a good team today.

“We know that there are some holes that need to be filled. We need four or five players in key positions: strikers, midfielders and maybe a defender. We got our eyes on the ball but I think the team that you saw playing today was not bad,” he told FPA after the match. But he tactfully ignored the idiomatic expression which says time and tide wait for no man.

“Don’t worry, we are working on it; we are working on it. We have executive meetings almost every week and we know exactly who we want. But you will see the new players when we start the league,” he responded. Gray and Zeon must rely on faith, the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen, according to Hebrews 11:1.

Aside from Sayon, Tolbert was probably the only top official seen during those defeats since secretary-general Momolu V. O. Sirleaf was banned in June by the Liberia Football Association (LFA) from all related activities for two year for “making unsubstantiated allegations against LFA president Musa Bility and his executive committee,” a decision Momolu vehemently challenged.

In July, FPA wrote a news analysis that the ban was taking effect on Momolu as he has not been seen at LFA related-activities (Ganta-congress, league closing ceremony and Gambia, Angola, Niger and Mali international matches) but he accused this writer of feuding more problems than solutions because he’s friendly with Sayon.

When he was texted in August as to why he has not attended any LFA program, Momolu responded that he has either been out of the country or out of Monrovia attending to governmental-activities since he heads the Ministry of Health & Social Welfare’s external coordination unit.

Momolu and Sayon may not have had a good working relationship as the latter has read or heard most of his decisions challenged in the media over matters concerning IE, probably with Tolbert’s acquiescence.

According to Ecclesiastes, there is time for everything and Sayon’s time to temporarily leave IE came when his decision to interpose no objection to Momolu’s ban as acting president (backed by board chairman Dr. Eugene Shannon during a board meeting) was overturned by Tolbert, upon his return from Nigeria.

So how does Tolbert, apparently running the show alone, intend to deal with the issue of his secretary-general?

“We are working on it internally; we are working on it internally. I don’t like division air in public. We are working on it internally. I am sure things will be worked out it with the FA,” he answered. Tolbert is upbeat that Momolu will soon regain his status but played down suggestions that his absence has affected the team’s morale.

“Well, I won’t say that. Nobody is key; nobody is strategic. The club can run without me. There is nobody indispensable to any club, no player [and] no management. We need him back [and] we are doing our best to get him back,” he added.

Asked what he’s doing to persuade Sayon to end his leave, Tolbert abruptly ended the interview by saying: “[You] go and ask him. He’s the one who took his own leave, alright. Thank you very much [and] and have a good day.”

The paper has been unable to verify how many board members do attend meetings regularly.

In all, Maryland County senior senator John Ballout, Finance Minister Augustine Ngafuan and his deputy for revenue Alfreda Stewart-Tamba as well as her husband Kollie Tamba; outgoing Margibi County Representative Saah Gbollie, Deputy Speaker Tokpa Mulbah, John Barkamini, Ophelia Hoff-Saytumah, Princeton Miller, Dorothy Sheba Brown and Joseph Farkollie, among a host of board members, have been silent since Momolu was banned and Sayon took his leave.

Cash has also been a problem too for Tolbert and his decision to deduct US$8,000 from the prize money given by Cellcom GSM, the sponsor of the league, for winning the Super Cup have not gone down well with top brass. He certainly needs help so as to resolve some of these burning issues but the big question is when and where will it come from.

As always, only time will tell to what extent will it hurt IE?