International Football
BBC CORRESPONDENT REPORTS ON LIBERIA – WHERE NO-ONE DARES TO TACKLE PRESIDENT GEORGE WEAH
Liberia’s President George Weah was once an international footballer and still sometimes plays on Saturdays as the BBC’s Mike Thomson discovered when he was invited to watch a kick around where some players seemed hesitant to tackle the country’s leader.
The call that came in the early hours was unexpected. “The president’s car is outside,” I was told, “it’s waiting to take you to his excellency’s football match.”
I don’t often get invites to watch heads of state kick balls about but that itself wasn’t the surprise on this occasion. It’s just that former FIFA World Footballer of the Year, George Weah, now president of Liberia, was supposed to be in Madagascar. Obviously plans had changed.
After a hurried bite of toast we sped off through a still waking Monrovia before arriving at the Ministry of Defence.
Had the driver got lost, I wondered? But sure enough, as we drove through the security gates, there behind an austere grey building, was a large football pitch.
One of the first players I saw was a tall, middle-aged man wearing black shorts and a blue number 14 shirt.
‘I’m the best dribbler’
After
ambling back and forth, without seeming to break a sweat, he beckoned to a
member of his team.
Seconds later a commentator screamed over the PA system: “His excellency is on the ball… he’s going for goal… oh, what a pass!”
So, yes, this was indeed the former AC Milan, Chelsea and Monaco star, turned leader of Liberia.
But why, I wondered, while watching his side, The Weah All Stars, take on another local team made up of former professional players, was nobody trying to tackle the, now less than lean, George Weah?
At half time I wandered over to the presidential dugout and asked the man himself if this was the result of some kind of presidential decree.
“No, no, no,” he replied swiftly.
“They’re afraid to mark me because I’m the best dribbler and if they try, they will dislocate some of their body. I’m very fancy.”
That may be but a few minutes later, his team’s coach, former Arsenal player, Christopher Wreh, came up with a rather different explanation.
fter telling me proudly that the president’s team has never, ever, lost a match, he added:
“No-one tackles him. We do advise the team that you don’t go into a tackle with the president. You avoid contact – no contact with the president.”
This may help explain why even at the age of 52, George Weah remains the team’s top goal scorer. His team won 3-1 that day.
Rent a crowd?
My next encounter with the president, to discuss his first year in office, was set for 11:30 local time four days later.
Though 11:30 soon became 12:30, then 13:30 slid into 14:30 and still no sign of the president.
Finally, dressed in a white tunic and trousers, Mr Weah breezed into the room saying: “Gentlemen, it’s time for lunch.”
By this point my normally fearless cameraman, Phil Darley, was looking nervous. Though not about the interview. The trouble was that his flight home to London was scheduled to leave in less than three hours’ time.
But he kept this to himself as we climbed aboard amid a 10-vehicle convoy and sped off, blue lights flashing, to the president’s chosen restaurant.
We roared through the capital, sending local drivers scuttling to the roadside, as our motorcade swept past.
When all was over, he asked when we were flying home. Cameraman Phil, by now in a state approaching panic, replied: “In less than an hour.”
“The man needs a car, right away,” barked the president.
And, while one of his officials called the airline, Phil was swiftly bundled into yet another security car and rushed, lights flashing once more, to the airport.
It’s often said that all’s well that ends well.
But you won’t hear that from Phil.
Despite his high-speed, sirened, screeching dash for the plane, he missed his flight after all.
So, even for the legendary George Weah there are evidently limits to a president’s powers.
International Football
Former Brazil coach Tite taking break to take care of mental, physical health
Former Brazil coach Tite said he is taking an indefinite career break in order to take care of his mental and physical health.
The 63-year-old, who led Brazil to the 2019 Copa America title, was hospitalised due to a heart issue last August. He was sacked by Flamengo the following month and had most recently been linked with the Corinthians job.
“I realised that there are times when you have to understand that, as a human being, I can be vulnerable and admitting that will certainly make me stronger,” Tite said in a statement posted on his son Matheus Bachi’s Instagram on Tuesday.
“I’m passionate about what I do and I’ll continue to be so, but after talking to my family and observing the signals my body was giving off, I decided that the best thing to do now is to take a break from my career to look after myself for as long as it takes.
“As has become public, there was a conversation in progress with Corinthians, but it will have to be paralysed by a difficult but necessary decision.”
Tite, who stepped down as Brazil coach after their quarter-final exit from the 2022 World Cup, has previously coached a string of Brazilian sides including Gremio, Atletico Mineiro and Palmeiras.
-Reuters
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Brazil have sacked head coach Dorival Jr, the country’s football confederation (CBF) said on Friday after the five-time world champions were thrashed 4-1 away to fierce rivals Argentina in a humiliating qualifying loss in Buenos Aires.
The 62-year-old was appointed in January 2024 after the team spent a year under two caretaker coaches as the Brazilian FA were unable to lure Italian Carlo Ancelotti from Real Madrid.
“The Brazilian Football Confederation informs that coach Dorival Jr is no longer in charge of the Brazilian national team,” the confederation said in a statement.
“The management thanks (Dorival) and wishes him success in continuing his career … the CBF will work to find his replacement,” it added.
Dorival was handed the job after his success with Flamengo in 2022 where he won the Copa Libertadores and Brazilian Cup, a trophy he lifted again the next year with Sao Paulo.
However, he never seemed to get to grips with the national team job and failed to earn the trust of Brazil’s demanding fans after winning only seven of his 16 games in charge.
Sources told Reuters the CBF was not confident in Dorival’s work, considering there had been little to no progress since a lacklustre Copa America campaign when Brazil were knocked out in the quarter-finals by Uruguay last year.
Still, the CBF was willing to wait and see until the 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Ecuador and Paraguay in June to reassess the situation following the end of the European season and the Club World Cup in the U.S. in June and July.
But after Brazil slumped to their heaviest-ever loss in a qualifier when they were thrashed by Argentina this week, CBF president Ednaldo Rodrigues decided to pull the trigger.
IDEAL CANDIDATE
Sources told Reuters Ancelotti was still the ideal candidate but he is under contract with Real until July 2026 and there is no indication he would leave the European and Spanish champions.
Brazilian media have reported that Al Hilal’s Portuguese coach Jorge Jesus is the favourite to replace Dorival.
Brazil have been in unfamiliar territory for over two years since crashing out of the 2022 World Cup against Croatia on penalties in the quarter-finals, a heartbreaking elimination that led to the exit of long-time manager Tite.
Their humbling defeat in Buenos Aires was the latest of a series of negative records Brazil have set under caretakers Ramon Menezes and Fernando Diniz and with Dorival in charge. They had never conceded four goals in a World Cup qualifier.
Brazil are in the midst of their worst-ever World Cup qualifying campaign. They are fourth in the South American standings with 21 points, a point above sixth-placed Colombia who currently occupy the final direct qualifying berth.
Never have Brazil lost so many games, conceded so many goals or set so many negative records in the qualifying competition. They have lost five of their 14 games and conceded 16 goals.
Brazil’s 1-0 defeat by Argentina in the Maracana late in 2023 was their first-ever qualifying loss on home soil.
They also lost to Colombia for the first time, saw the end of their unbeaten run against Uruguay stretching back over two decades and were defeated by Morocco and Senegal, having never previously lost to an African nation.
-Reuters
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International Football
England’s German manager Tuchel will not sing the English anthem in his first game
England manager Thomas Tuchel said he would have to “earn the right” to sing the national anthem, God Save the King, after announcing his 26-man squad on Friday ahead of the team’s World Cup qualifiers.
Tuchel, who was appointed as Gareth Southgate’s successor in October and named his first squad to face Albania and Latvia this month, said he would not sing the anthem in his first games in charge.
“It means a lot to me, I can assure you, but I can feel that because it is so meaningful and it is so emotional and it is so powerful, the national anthem, that I have to earn my right to sing it,” the 51-year-old German told a news conference.
Former caretaker manager Lee Carsley was criticised last year for not singing the anthem during his tenure.
However, Tuchel added that while he is proud to be in charge of the team and knows the words to the anthem, he plans to earn the right with results.
“Maybe I have to dive more into the culture and earn my right from you, from the players, from the supporters, so everyone feels like ‘he should sing it now, he’s one of our own, he’s the English manager, he should sing it’,” he said.
-Reuters
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