Hungry Lions

Liberia's Weah to quit; Mboma leads Cameroon charge

BAMAKO (Reuters) -- Former World Footballer of the Year George Weah plans to step down as Liberia coach at the end of the African Nations Cup finals, he said on Thursday.

Asked if he planned to quit at the end of the tournament, Weah, leaving the team hotel for an afternoon training session, said: "Yes, yes that's right." He declined further comment.

The former AC Milan and Chelsea striker, who is technical director and captain and used to fund the team, has threatened to resign in the past in exasperation at the obstacles he faced to keep the national side going.

Liberia's preparation for only their second appearance at the Nations Cup finals has been beset by problems from the start. The players went on strike at their training camp in the Ivory Coast a week before the competition over money.

Weah threatened to pull Liberia out of the tournament when his players left him in the lurch. They wanted US$15,000 each to appear in the finals while the Liberian football authorities were offering $6,500.

The players turned up to play the opening match against hosts Mali, which they drew 1-1 after conceding a late goal, expecting to at least get the smaller amount, but have yet to receive any cash.

Weah also threatened to quit in July after the Lone Stars lost a crucial World Cup qualifying match at home to Ghana. He was reduced to tears after fans hurled abuse and missiles at him, and insulted his mother.

But Liberia's President Charles Taylor, a former warlord on a United Nations Security Council blacklist after being accused of running an arms-for-diamonds operation, persuaded Weah to stay in his post.

Last chance

A team official admitted on Wednesday that the row over money was affecting the players' performance. But the team said they would try to put the money issue aside to play Algeria on Friday.

"Tomorrow everyone is going to be at the game," goalkeeper Louis Crayton said on Thursday. "At this moment we are not threatening to leave. Liberia withdrawing from the Nations Cup would be a hindrance to African football as a whole."

Forward Edward Dixon said the players wanted to do their best as it would most likely be the last chance for 35-year-old Weah, who played at Manchester City and Marseille after leaving Chelsea, to grace the international stage.

Weah, who now plays in the United Arab Emirates, had a dream start to the finals in Mali. He scored the first goal of the tournament, putting Liberia on course for victory until the hosts equalized with three minutes left.

In their final group match on Monday the Lone Stars take on Nigeria, one of the favorites for the Nations Cup. Liberia beat the Super Eagles at home in a World Cup qualifying game and almost pipped them to a place in the finals in Korea and Japan.

"The players are going to make every effort, to show that he's done all these things for Liberia," said winger Edward Dixon. "The players want to say to George, here is your gift. Who else from African football has done so much for their own country?

"If we beat Algeria and Nigeria, we're going to win the cup."

Mboma leads Cameroon's Nations Cup charge

The Italian-based forward scored with a stunning long-range drive against the Democratic Republic of Congo in the Indomitable Lion's opening Group C game in Sikasso at the weekend to hand his team the perfect start in a tournament that has been sluggish in delivering goals.

Mboma, 31, trained with his teammates on the eve of Friday's next assignment against the Ivory Coast after a day spent in bed suffering from diarrhoea when he should have been celebrating news of the birth of his child.

Friday also sees two matches in Bamako with Liberia due to meet Algeria in Group A at the March 26 stadium and Tunisia and Egypt clashing in a key north African derby at the Modibo Keita stadium.

Liberian players have again threatened a strike if not paid their tournament appearance fee but there have been conflicting reports about whether this will jeopardise the staging of this game.

Egypt and World Cup finalists Tunisia both had slow starts in Group D and need to show improved form to keep alive their respective hopes of a place in the quarterfinals.

Mboma, voted Africa's Footballer of the Year in 2000, is again the pivot of Cameroon's attack as it seeks to virtually ensure a quarterfinal place with a second successive win.

Inspired performance

The Ivorians suffered a disappointing goalless draw in their opening game against Togo on Monday, unable to get past an inspired performance from opposing goalkeeper Kossi Agassa.

Former coach Martin Gbonke Tia has criticized a lack of commitment from the side's large European-based contingent, who he said were pulling out of tackles for fear of suffering injury.

But the Ivorians do pose potentially the toughest challenge to Cameroon in Group C, particularly with the in-form Marseille striker Ibrahima Bakayoko.

Liberia's team continues to train ahead of its match against Algeria but several players told reporters during the week the side would threaten a strike if not paid the US$15,000 per player sought as an appearance fee for the tournament.

The team staged a stoppage in the week before the start of the tournament but came within three minutes of winning the opening game of the tournament last Saturday against hosts Mali, conceding a late equalizer in a 1-1 draw.

Officials have admitted, however, that the on-going row over money has dented morale in the team ranks.

"You could see it in the first match. The players felt frustrated and couldn't express themselves properly," said one team official.

World Cup finalist Tunisia received a blast from its own coach Henri Michel on Tuesday after a dour start in its first match against Zambia in Bamako on Monday, which ended goalless.

Now it is also struggling to get midfielder Hassen Gabsi fit for the game. The Italian-based player said his troublesome ankle continued to make his availability for Friday's game uncertain.

Egypt was beaten by Senegal on Sunday in a match where it looked the better team but was too cautious in its approach. A second successive defeat would end any hopes the four-time winner has of extending the record run of African Nations Cup triumphs.

Lua Lua so glad to escape 'boring' England

SIKASSO, Mali (Reuters) -- The heat is sapping, there is dust everywhere, the athletes' village is only half-built and he had to defy orders from his English Premiership club to be here.

Yet Democratic Republic of Congo striker Lomana Tresor Lua Lua says he has no regrets about leaving Newcastle United's premiership challenge to play for his country in the African Nations Cup.

Lua Lua has not been back to Africa since moving to England with his family as a boy 15 years ago. The 21-year-old striker says he is relishing his return, especially the freedom he has been given on the pitch by coach Louis Watunda.

"I felt so relaxed, I felt so comfortable -- free," he said after making his international debut in Sunday's 1-0 defeat by defending champions Cameroon.

"There was nobody shouting at me, nobody telling me what to do all the time," he said.

"I think in England, managers sometimes put pressure on players by shouting at them all the time. Sometimes you should just let them get on with their game, give them their freedom.

"That's what I've got here. The manager just gave me that freedom, he said just go and play your football.

"Here it's so nice."

Newcastle are managed by the former England manager Bobby Robson.

Despite being brought up and educated in East London and speaking English as his first language, Lua Lua said he has always wanted to come back a play for the country of his birth -- something his father, who was also a footballer, never got the chance to do.

Rejected call

He was so determined that he rejected a call-up from England's under-21 team to play for the former Zaire.

"I'm just happy to come back to Africa, I don't know how to express my feelings, it's something I've always wanted to do. Just to be here is amazing," he said.

"This is Africa, it is where I was born and it means the whole world to me to come back and play for my country.

"At the moment the only thing I am thinking about is doing well for my country and being recognized. Hopefully I can do something that might make me remembered in five or 10 years' time."

Lua Lua began his career with Colchester United in the English second division, having been recommended to them by the referee of a college match in which he had played.

"I didn't want to go because I didn't think there would be a chance, but they started calling the house and my dad forced me to go," he said. After being watched by several Premiership clubs, Newcastle came along 18 months ago.

"When I left to come here, I had an argument with the chairman because they didn't want me to come here. It's a bit hard really, a long story. I say if you want to play for your country, play, but people don't see it that way."

Lua Lua stands by his decision and not even the difficult conditions in one of the world's poorest nations have made him think twice.

"It is completely different here, sometimes it's frustrating and the weather doesn't help," he said.

"But I was man enough to make my decision to come here, now I have to be man enough to step up and play my own game.

"It's all part of Africa and that's why I'm enjoy.

"England gets boring. Sometimes you want a new experience, experience other things in life."

Ouaddou: Rift in Morocco squad forced me to quit

PARIS (Reuters) -- Morocco's English-based defender Abdesslam Ouaddou, reportedly sent home from the African Nations Cup for "personal reasons," says he left of his own free will in protest at a rift in the squad.

"I decided to leave, it's not quite the same," he told French daily l'Est Republicain.

"For a long time a rift has existed in the squad between Moroccan players playing abroad and raised in France and home-based players," said Ouaddou, who plays his club soccer at Fulham in the English Premier League.

"They're not polite with us, they call us emigrants. To remain with such impolite people, I just can't," he added.

Ouaddou said no incident had occurred between the players but he felt forced to leave to avoid any trouble.

Nonda not seriously ill, Monaco doctor says

MONACO (Reuters) -- Democratic Republic of Congo striker Shabani Nonda has flu but is not seriously ill, Monaco's doctor said on Thursday after the player had returned this week from the African Nations Cup.

"The [hospital] tests revealed nothing serious except a high temperature and flu," the doctor said, adding that he had given Nonda the necessary treatment to get him back playing as quickly as possible.

Congolese coach Louis Watunda said Nonda, who left Mali on Wednesday, had quit the tournament because of ill health and personal problems.

He later said the player had traveled to France to play for Monaco in a French first division match at the weekend, but would return to Mali for his team's final Nations Cup group game next week against the Ivory Coast in Sikasso.

Food flown in to hungry Lions

SIKASSO, Mali (Reuters) -- Cameroon's African Nations Cup squad has been sent two lorry-loads of food by the country's sports ministry after the players were given only rice and water on their first day, players and officials said on Thursday. The food arrived by chartered plane from Yaounde, the Cameroon capital, to the southern Malian town of Sikasso where the Indomitable Lions are playing their first round matches.

It filled two lorries when it was taken from the airport in Sikasso to the athletes' village, officials said. Items included chicken, fish, potatoes, orange juice, meat and chocolate, all of which had been in short supply in Sikasso, officials said.

A cook was also flown in.

"They've sent everything," said one player. "We are much happier."

Cameroon are sharing a dusty, half-built athletes village on the outskirts of Sikasso with first round rivals Togo, Ivory Coast and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The village includes a restaurant which is still used by the other teams but which was ditched by the Indomitable Lions after one player said they were only given "strong flavored rice and water" on the first day.

Players from other teams have also complained that the food lacks variety.

Cameroon, who are defending the crown they won two years ago, face the Ivory Coast on Friday in their second group game. They began with a 1-0 win over the Democratic Republic of Congo last Sunday.

 

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