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Lone
Star’s Selection Process
By Wleh Bedell
Few days ago, fans of Liberia’s senior football team, the Lone Star,
were in a frenzy after the team, under new German tactician Anthony
Hey, did the unexpected by drubbing the Nile Crocodiles of Sudan 2-0
in Khartoum.
It was Lone Star’s first major international friendly in seven years,
and her first match since a 0-4 humiliation to Rwanda in CAN 2008
qualifiers.
Lone Star paraded a virtually depleted squad that comprised an
avalanche of players from the Indonesian Liga D’jarum and blended with
two other great talents - South African Club Jomo Cosmos beleaguered
forward Anthony Snorti Laffor and Dubai-based Arcadia Martin Toe.
None of the European-based selected for the contest honored the
invitation much to the disappointment of the footballing authorities
though FIFA sanctioned friendlies allow players to be released by
their clubs 48 hours to the match.
The teams produced the magic wand and give Liberia a salient win that
could perk up their standings on the FIFA rankings and restore some
pride to Liberian football and it also sent signals to the
European-based that football is only won on the day.
Some say, those European-based showed disrespect to the coach and the
FA and selecting them in the future will mean instituting a lot of
stringent measures. Others say, their staying away was a blessing in
disguise and it helped to inject toxin in the local minnows and their
unheard of Indonesian colleagues who displayed wealth of flair to the
new coach.
The Sudan’s encounter was Coach Hey first romance with the team since
his recent appointment and an opportunity to grasp a first-hand
impression the team, and though he has reportedly expressed
disappointment, the “rejected stones” that where available somewhat
helped him to a great start.
The defeat of Sudan still fresh from CAN 2008 also gave pessimists
some semblance of hope that the glory days of Liberia’s Lone Star that
only made two CAN appearances (1996 and 2002) seem to be looming.
And though the team stunned the bookmakers with its heroic
performance, courtesy of goals from the incisive James Koko Lomell of
Indonesian league runners-up, PSMS Medan and substitute Boikai Foday
of another Liga D’jarum side, Persiwa Wamena, there are many lessons
to be learnt with respect to the selection process.
With PSMS Medan acrobatic rearguard Murphy Nagbe captaining the team
in the absence of the aging Momo Blamo, Kelvin Sebwe and Oliver Makor,
other youngsters including the gritty Stephen Nagbe Mennoh of
Indonesian side Cement Pandang and Zah Rahan Krangar of Sriwujaya also
of Indonesia who kept rein in the middle of the park and dazzling on
the left flank respectively, it once more becomes a pointer that
though where one plays matters, it is true that what one plays matters
most.
The attractive CV of a particular player and his current form are
great criteria for selection, but those shouldn’t be the only means
for selection. Liberia is a bastion of great talents and because our
players don’t have the opportunity to compete in top leagues,
rendering them non-Lone Star materials is quite unthinkable.
At the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations in Tunisia, the eventual winners
Nigeria’s Super Eagles with a star-studded team and under the tutelage
of Dutchman Clemence Westerhorf surprisingly selected the then unknown
Emmanuel Amunike who was playing for Egyptian giants Zamalek.
The point-sizer goal poacher selection was at the expense of high
profile forwards Didier Owubukiri and Christopher Ohenhen of
Portuguese side Boastiva and Spanish side Compostella respectively.
Amunike justified the confidence reposed in him and scored both goals
in Nigeria’s 2-1 win against Zambia in the grand final on April 10 to
lift their second CAN silverware.
Interestingly, the former FC Barcelona forward only featured in the
crunch final and rescued Nigeria by canceling an early goal from
Harrison Chongo before gliding home the winner in one the finest
comebacks in CAN final history.
This reminder, and several others as far football is concern, is to
urge the coaches that selection must be based on commitment, desire,
hunger, current form as well as the ability to play in conformity with
the coach’s plan.
To select a player, the coach must also consider player’s conduct now
and in the past, how often he plays for his current team and why he
needs such player for a particular match. It’s also important that
selections be based on recommendations by people who follow the trails
of these players and not on gossips, kickbacks and old notes in the FA
drawers.
Liberiansoccer, for example, has a rich team of media pundits who
understand football and especially Liberian football and go after
almost every Liberian talent to the latter. Some players don’t get
selected because nobody hears of them or better still follow their
prospects in whatever place they’re playing.
It was Liberiansoccer that gave Francis Doe and litany of other
youngsters the spotlight and paved way for their selection into the
Lone Star just as football media in Europe, South America and other
places do.
So, why this bright start of Coach Hey and crew should be applauded
greatly, it is also advisory that the German select players based on
merit keeping in mind the extent to which he wants to take Liberian
football.
We believe this Lone Star will reign supreme and will do marvels for
the rest of the continent to see and once more be a relatively
respectable and known quantity in footballing ranks.
It is quite picturesque that football is not how long, but how well.
Not only experience, but current form; not age, but work rate; not
status, but the ability to deliver. Not just the oily CVs, but what
you can contribute for the survival or success of a particular team.
Lone Star Line Up Against Sudan
Goalkeeper
Melvin King (Invincible Eleven)
Back Four
Stanley Parker (Invincible Eleven), Albert Donzo (LISCR), George
Baysah (LISCR) Murphy Komonple Nagbe (PSMS Medan)
Midfield Quartet
Theo Weeks (LISCR), Stephen Nagbe Mennoh (Cement Pandang), James Koko
Lomell (PSMS Medan) Zah Rahan Krangar (Sriwujaya)
Front Two
Arcadia Martin Wesay Toe (Dubai Club), Anthony Snothi Laffor (Jomo
Cosmos)
Formation 4-4-2
Substitutions
Acardia Toe (Boikai Foday , Zah Krangar (Sengbeh Kennedy – Monrovia
Black Stars) Anthony Laffor (Mardie Rennie – LPRC-Oilers).
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