George Weah is my friend. He has been for several years now. He may not be from the ‘museum’ of football like my humble self, but he confesses he never saw me play. But when I called him up many years ago, when he was playing in Italy, to discuss a project idea I was working on at the time (to assemble all the big players of African football for a pan-African footballers conference), he immediately recognised my name and screamed it over the phone:  ‘Mr. Mathematical, of course, I know about you. Many of us wanted to play like you. You were the best right winger in Africa in your time and we dreamt we would one day be like you’.  That was George Weah some 15 or more years ago. We have met again a few times since then. This past week, he expressed similar sentiments when we met in Johannesburg. He had come to see Jay Jay Okocha whom he admires a great deal and we met again. We sat over lunch and spoke about life, football and the World Cup. Mr. G, as he is fondly called by some friends, now lives in Miami, Florida. He is in university studying for a Bachelor’s degree in Business. He has been married for 17 years, and he came to lunch with his last son, 12 year-old Timothy, who is in high school in the United States.

George and I have kept some kind of distant relationship. My tailor in Lagos makes him Nigerian native dresses which he loves to wear a great deal. We also have a common cause in the 1-Goal Education for All FIFA legacy project which he supports. I seized the opportunity of meeting him again to catch up on several issues with the man who attempted to become President of his country but was halted by the inadequacy of his education. The dream to one day rule his country is still alive and thats why he has now gone back to school.

What does George think of the ongoing 2010 World Cup? First, he is unhappy that he served as one of the African football Ambassadors that campaigned for South Africa during the bid process of the World Cup (others are Kalusha Bwalya, Abedi Pele) and when it comes to the World Cup finals the organisers do not consider inviting  him to South Africa in any capacity! He tells everyone, therefore, that he is on a private visit to South Africa at the invitation of the South African Broadcasting Corporation, SABC, as one of the match analysers  they have invited for commentaries during live transmission of matches. Africa has set a new standard in broadcasting with the array of ex-international football players drawn from all over the world including a large number of Africans. So George is naturally upset. Secondly, he is angry with the fact that there is only one African coach leading any team at the World Cup. He asks: how can Africa let that happen? How can the continent’s first World Cup is not used to showcase its best and brightest in coaching? It leaves a bitter taste in the mouth. A look at the performances of the African teams so far, reveals that trusting Foreign coaches with African teams is a misguided concept. The continent must give its own coaches the opportunity to learn and gather useful experiences.

I ask him what he thinks of the Nigerian team and their performance so far. He shocked me with his brief but frank response. The shock is because, only some days before, as Nigeria was struggling against Greece when the team was one man short, a similar idea flashed briefly through my mind. I mean, the thought now expressed by George crossed my mind! It is uncanny that both of us could be thinking similar thoughts even though for me it was only flitting!

Jay Jay could have made a great difference!

‘Look’, George Weah says to me. ‘It is not because Jay Jay Okocha is my friend. When I saw the team you brought to the World Cup, and how your team has been playing, struggling with team organisation particularly in the mid-field, I honestly started think that Jay Jay left the game a bit too early. He could and should have waited until after this World Cup. Look at the gap in your midfield. Jay Jay would have coped well and provided the creativity so badly missing in your team now’. I wonder even though he makes absolute sense.

I look at the ages of a few of the players in the team (obviously same age or even older than Okocha) that are making little or no impact, and I start to think that Jay Jay would have found a place in the team during this World Cup. George recalls the invitational match to mark Nelson Mandela’s birthday, when several African players were invited to participate in a novelty match. He says he saw Okocha play brilliantly and felt that there was a lot of football still left in his feet.

Jay Jay at this point briefly comes in. He shocks me even further with his words. He confirms the ‘crazy’ thought. He also had thought about it. So upset was he, looking at the Nigerian team during the latter part of the match against Greece, that, for the first time since his retirement, he regretted leaving the game when he did. He could easily have been in the Super Eagles team if the team that was assembled for the World Cup represents the best available to constitute is Lagerbeck squad. Very easily he could have provided the missing link in the team. At least he could have held the ball better than anything we have seen during the match. If he had known that Nigerian football would suffer this much from his absence and without a replacement in sight, and that there would still be some players older than him still in the team, he would have waited until after this mission! We quickly dispense of the thought, but George has made a point! He knows the history and style of the Super Eagles, thats why he is pained watching how the team now plays rudderless in midfield.

I ask George about Arsene Wenger’s view that the standard of the World Cup in the first round is very low to the extent that Arsenal could have come to this World Cup and won it! It is possible George responds only because all the teams have very little time to build their collection of players into solid teams and that Arsenal are already a solid club team. But he concludes that as the championship progresses the teams will become better and Arsene’s theory may start to falter.

Would he join me to go watch the USA play that evening? George does not waste his time watching teams that are not artistic in their play, he tells us. There are only very few teams in the championship that excite him, and definitely not any of those that kick and follow in the typical British style. He recalls his days in the English Premiership and says he is lucky to have played for a team that had several foreign players. Otherwise he  would have developed neck pain following an endless orgy of high balls!

George will be here till the end of the World Cup, and I hope to see and chat with him again soon.