By S. Siapha Mulbah
Liberia most celebrated soccer star and former national team head coach James Salinsa Debbah has bounce back on Coach Ansumane Keita, raising alarms of disappointment in the gaffer’s decision to omit goalkeeper Tommy Songo from the 25 men list for the preparation of the qualifying rounds of the African Nations Championship CHAN.
Coach Keita recently released the names of 25 local base players that are expected to commence training July 1, 2023 for the continental biannual event.
In the squad, goalkeepers Emmanuel Deneah formerly of Bea Mountain, Derrick Julu of Watanga and Ashley Williams of LISCR were called to prepare for the goalkeeping role. Ashley Williams’s inclusion in the team closed the space to pick Tommy Songo who had made more appearances than any other keeper for the national team.
He was lastly seen between the sticks for the red, white and blue colors in both legs of the 2023 African Cup of Nations Qualifiers when Liberia had a remarkable 2-2 draw against Bafana Bafana of South Africa away and a 1-2 lose at home.
Keita who then described Songo as a best choice for the task despite dismal performance in the two matches decided to drop the shot stopper for undisclosed cause.
The decision has been condemned by Debbah on accounts that Songo as a player deserves more calls on both local and senior national teams because of his experience on the pitch.
According to the former Lone Star coach the ball game creates a psychological situation for player at an 85% rate and if there is any reason for player performance rate to drop there should be a second chance for recovery.
He believes that Tommy Sango confidence level as a goalkeeper is at an all-time low and requires mentorship along with counselling more platforms to explore.
“Granted of the fact that Songo has been a flop lately, conceding 4 reckless goals in our two encounters against South Africa, he is unarguably one of our finest goalkeepers. He has had some indelible performances over the years,” Debbah recorded.
He added, “Instead of helping the lad psychologically to regain his confidence, we have decided to stomped on him and throw him under the bus to parish. Tommy still has a lot to offer if given the opportunity.”
In addition to his demand for the recently talked about goalkeeper inclusion to the team, he said though he is the Lone Star all-time leading goal scorer with 42 goals in 73 appearances, missed more than 70 decisive goals and was never regarded as bad player to represent the country.
