By Julu M. Johnson, Jr.

A major battle has surfaced and it has to do with the employment of the person that would fulfill President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf’s dream of seeing Liberia at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

The former Lone Star skipper Joe Thunder Armstrong Nagbe has just returned from Brazil with a certificate in coaching. Few weeks after his arrival, Nagbe quickly threw in his towel to prove that his coaching credentials are not to be taken from granted.

The quest of Nagbe may be good, but he has a rival in Antoine Hey of Germany, whose application is also in.

There are reports that Hey’s involvement in the Lone Star coaching race is a result of his country’s assistance to Liberia. It is said that the Liberian Government had asked Germany to help with a coach for the Lone Star, apparently when the German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited the West African nation.

Upon quitting football, Nagbe traveled to Brazil and now boasts of being a professional soccer coach, recognized by FIFA, CBF, UEFA and other established soccer organizations.
Born on September 2, 1968 in Nimba County unto the union of Mr. George Nagbe and Mrs. Martha Nagbe, Joe Nagbe started his football sojourn with Young Survivor of Clara Town from 1982 to 1985.

He then joined Invincible Eleven (IE) in 1985 and thereafter played between 1986 and 1987 for Mighty Barrolle before returning to IE, where he stayed up to 1988 after winning the National League title.

Along with fellow Liberian international James Debbah, Nagbe moved to Union Duala of Cameroon for the 1989 to 1990 season. During that period, he played a major role as Liberia almost reached the 1990 World Cup finals in Italy. In the process, the Lone Star eliminated the mighty Ghana Black Star before whipping the Pharaohs of Egypt and Malawi in the group stage.

Nagbe and Debbah joined George Weah at AS Monaco for the 1989-90 season after when he found himself at Epinac from 1990 to 1993. The three seasons that followed saw Nagbe at OGC Nice, where he alongside Debbah was successful with a French Cup final win over Giungamp that had another Liberian Christopher Wreh. Nagbe had the opportunity of serving as captain of Nice.

His next transfer led him to Switzerland with Lugano for the season of 1996-97 and afterwards, Greece became the next destination for the Liberian that has played the roles of striker, midfielder and defender during his outstanding career.

Nagbe together with his colleagues made history for the Lone Star when Liberia qualified for her first African Cup of Nations finals in South Africa. Before then, the Lone Star whipped Tunisia, Mauritania and Togo, but drew with Senegal at home.

There was Nagbe at PAOK Salonika for three seasons (1997-2000) and later at Panionios (2000-2001). The next season, he played for Giannana (2001-02), the period with him as captain when the Lone Star reached another Nations Cup finals but narrowly missed out on the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan.

His final journey before heading for retirement led Nagbe to Indonesia, where he reunited with dozens of his countrymen. There, he played for PSPS, Paesima and Paisiba.
He began playing for the Liberian national team in 1985 and ended in 2001 with 96 caps.
Nagbe is married and his two sons are following his footsteps in the United States by playing actively in football.

Antoine Hey, Nagbe’s opponent for the Lone Star job, is a former player of the German Bundesliga side Schalke 04. He who also played professional football in Switzerland and England for 14 years before retiring from active football at the age of 31 to pursue a coaching career.

He became head coach of the national team of The Gambia on September 26, 2006, replacing Sang Ndong, who was sacked in 2003.

Born in 1970, Hey’s previous coaching experience has been with Lesotho for 13 months as well as a German lower division side Neumunster for nine months in the 2003-2004 season.
He is a holder of the highest coaching license worldwide -the UEFA/FIFA Pro-license, having attended a UEFA coaching instructor course.

Hey made his presence felt in Lesotho by qualifying the South-African nation to the 2005 CAF U-20 Youth Championship finals in Benin 2005 -the same tournament The Gambia had just qualified for.

“If you ask me what I have done before - I was a professional football player for 14 years. I played in Germany, Switzerland and in England. My first club was Grasshoppers Zurich in Switzerland.

“I also played for Schalke 04 and Fortuna Dusseldort in the Germany first division Bunders league.

“I moved to Birmingham City in 1996 for 3 years playing in the championship. After this, I went back to Germany and played for several one or two clubs in the second bunders league division. I stopped playing at the age of 31 in Bristol City, England before I made up for a coaching license up to UEFA Pro-license. I coached a second division club in Germany for 9 months before I signed for Lesotho for 13 months.

“We qualified for the African U-20 finals in Benin 2005. Unfortunately, we couldn’t qualify for the World Cup after we finished 3rd in the group of four. We needed to finish second in order to qualify for the World Cup,” Hey was quoted as saying when he took over The Gambia.

Meanwhile, by the end of November, 2006, Hey and Gambia football authorities fell apart after he chose to delay his arrival to the country until his money was paid to his account by the Department of State for Youth, Sports & Religious Affairs.

His case was the center of controversy in that he had reportedly stepped down as the Scorpions' coach because Hey had not been paid his salary.

The news was later down-played by the Department of State for Youth, Sports & Religious who insisted that Hey had not resigned, adding "the German is still the coach of the country's national football team.”

But at the end of the day, Hey and the tiny West African state finally divorced as Jose Martinez was the next man in command of the Scorpions.