The NEWS (Monrovia)
29 April 2008
Monrovia — Young Manchester City striker Alex Nimely has denied claim by the Lone Star head coach Antoine Tony Hey that he turned down an invitation to play for Liberia against Oman last Thursday.
The frustration expressed by Hey stemmed from his alleged unsuccessful attempts to have Nimely along with Francis Grandpa Doe of DC United and David Gbemie of Bolton Wanderers to face Oman.
Since the match with Oman was not approved by FIFA, so the coach decided to select Doe, Nimely and Gbemie because they are not actively involved in first team football with their respective clubs. According to him, however, his requests were turned down by Doe and Nimely alias Adebayor, while there was no word from Gbemie.
But the coach's claims were rejected by Nimely. He said in an e-mail message: "That's not true. I got no idea on that. He shouldn't misinterpret me. I never discussed with him or anyone concerning my trip to Oman. They didn't send me any fax. Furthermore, I'm having a very tough time. We are preparing for the League Cup playoff semi-final on Monday and we just played yesterday to Middlesborough. I wouldn't have had chance to go to Oman. To be honest, what I want the Liberian people to know is that I didn't receive any fax from anyone."
Prior to the Lone Star's departure last Monday, Hey said he was not happy about the poor response the country's foreign based players have been giving the Lone Star since he took over.
Speaking at the Samuel Kanyon Doe Sports Complex in Paynesville, the German man said, "I want to know if they are part of the plan because I am fed up with waiting for them."
Following the failure of the foreign-based players to honor invitations sent them, the coach was constrained to use mainly local players in a FIFA-approved international friendly on March 26, 2008 away to Sudan, a match that Liberia won 2-0.
The Lone Star coach declared that it was not possible for the team to take part in the upcoming qualifiers with only young and inexperience players, reason for which he was demanding 100 percent commitment from the mature ones, especially those that are playing abroad.
Yet the German tactician has left the door opened to the players until May 1, 2008 to respond to him. "I don't mind what happened in the past, but this is a new era," he said.
Of the 25 players the coach has asked to commit themselves to the Lone Star, only ten are said to have responded. They include Kelvin Sebwe, Momo Blamo, Oliver Makor, Dulee Johnson, Dioh Williams, Chris Gbandi, Jimmy Dixon, Anthony Laffor and George Gebro.
Hey revealed that the Lone Star would leave for Germany on May 11, 2008 and he described the training in Europe as the key to the Lone Star's preparations for the joint 2010 World and African Nations Cups qualifiers. There, he said his final 25-man squad for the qualifiers would be selected and that they would include both local and foreign based players.
The coach intends to wrap up his preparation with another friendly match with Sudan in Monrovia before the journey to South Africa and Angola begins at the end of May.
He has, meanwhile, switched the friendly match with Sierra Leone to Wednesday, April 30, 2008 at the Samuel Kanyon Doe Sports Complex in Paynesville as a result of the Lone Star's trip to Oman.
Hey admonished everyone to get on board, stating, "It is time to bring this team forward."
He advised that it is not time to be selfish. The coach then called on the private sector, Sports Ministry and the Liberia Football Association (LFA) to join him in the quest to take the Lone Star to the 2010 events.
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