Monrovia – Just two days after Liberia’s painful defeat at home by South Africa in the 2023 African Cup of Nations qualifiers, Lone Star midfielder Allen Njie has openly apologized to Liberians. The visitors, the Bafana Bafana of South Africa, secured a 1-2 win over Lone Star at the SKD Sports Complex, a game Lone Star needed to win to progress to its third Nations Cup. However, the home side did little to put a smile on the faces of their supporters who turned out in their numbers to cheer their team.
By: Christopher C.Walker [email protected], 0886723075/0777898224
But in a Facebook post on Thursday, March 30th, Allen, who is a former captain of the national team, said they, as players, let the country and their fans down when they needed them the most. Allen Njie, who plays for Swiss club FC Aarau, took to his official Facebook page and wrote, “To begin with, it has been difficult for me in the past few hours since the referee sounded that last whistle that got us off the pitch. All sorts of things have run through my head.”
“Like every football player, it is a high wish to see yourself in your national team colors, especially making sure that smiles are worn on the faces of your citizens. We went out there with the hope that we could get the job done with our individual and collective skills. For one of the first times in my life, I have never felt so convinced that the big stage – Cup of Nations – was the spot already. I had goosebumps the moment we entered the stadium and saw the anxiety of qualifying on the faces of our beloved supporters. Just like us, they too were anxious to see their country as part of next year’s edition of the continental tournament.”
“However, sometimes your strength is not just enough to get through what your anticipation is. That’s why we all have someone above us (God) who sees and directs everything. As believers, we do believe that it is He who controls us all. This, in any way, is not an attempt to give excuses for the performance. We let the hope of our dear country’s people down. We let our conscience and ambitions of playing in front of the continent down. This, personally, is a shame for me that I have had to deal with for many years to come. But again, that’s why we are created by God as humans. We make mistakes. We fall on our faces. And the most important thing is to wake up from the falls, dust off, learn from the mistakes, and continue to grow. The Liberian fans have borne their portion of the pain. I too have still not yet fully recovered from my portion of the pain. It hurts so deeply!”
Meanwhile, the former LISCR FC player has promised that Lonestar will bounce back from their disappointment to get the needed results in the future. “Dear Liberians, on behalf of myself and family, I’m really sorry for the disappointment in the qualifiers,” Njie posted. “I know I performed very badly, but there’s nothing we can do. That’s football. Sometimes we win, sometimes we lose. But we are going to correct our mistakes in the future. On behalf of myself and my teammates, we are very sorry for the poor performance. We will get back to our drawing board.”
The latest defeat at the hands of Bafana Bafana currently places Lonestar at the bottom of Group K with one point from three matches, while Morocco tops the group on six points and South Africa is in the second spot with four points, which qualified both countries for this year’s AFCON. Liberia is expected to face Morocco in their last match of the qualifiers later this year away from home.