Monrovia - Former national team striker James Salinsa Debbah has launched a stinging attack on the Liberia Football Association (LFA) for poorly handling Saturday’s embarrassing 6-1 showdown to Nigeria in Calabar, Cross River State.

Debbah posted on his facebook page after the game that the team lacked strategy and blamed the FA for a poor preparation and late arrival in Calabar.

The ex-Mighty Barrolle striker, also known as the nation’s most celebrated star, called on LFA president Musa Bility and cohorts to stand-down.

“What a shame!!! Poor preparation, late arrival in Calabar, (Friday night). No time for adjustment to the terrain (acclimatization)."

"Unnecessary one week camping in Ghana. No system of play, no strategy, poor administration. We definitely have to do a house cleaning.

“The administration of the FA has to be changed. The LFA under Musa Bility and cohorts (Musa Shannon and Adolph Lawrence,) is a failure!!! You get it; tell me nah,” he plainly wrote.

But Bility told a news conference on Wednesday that Debbah was a loosed canon ready to shell recklessly.

He said he had invited Debbah and some ex-national team players to his office on handling the team’s affairs to Salinsa following the dismissal of Italian coach Roberto Landi in February.

“Let me assume that he said it. It is quite disappointing that Salinsa will say that and I feel very bad that he said that because I have had a lot of respect for him; I have treated him with dignity and respect. In the face of such a difficult time for those of us who are managing football for him to say that I think it is irresponsible on his part.

“When we removed [Thomas] Kojo, James Salinsa Debbah, Jonathan Sogbie and Dionysius Sebwe, Kelvin Sebwe and Joe Nagbe, I called them in my office. And I told Salinsa and Kelvin that we have a game with Namibia, and I want you guys to take charge of the national team. I believe it is your responsibility as former national team players.

“Debbah said he had no interest in the national team. He told me that. So for him to come and make that kind of irresponsible statement, I feel very bad and I think his antics and I just want Salinsa to know that if people respect you, you are to respect yourself. We know each other character in this country. We know each other contribution and negativism.

“And I don’t want to go into it because I refused to be drawn into it. I respect his contribution to the game but none of that contribution had to do with management of the game.

"He has no idea on it; he has no experience in it; he has no say in it. You are talking about poor preparation; you are talking about team arrival late but what has happened to his sense of history?"

“They used to fly seven hours from Paris, France to Monrovia and played the game the same day. He forgot that? I hate, I hate to go into argument with former national team players but playing football is different from managing it."

"I know he was a good player; I never know him to be a good manager. And if he’s drawn the dagger and is ready to be a loosed canon then I am ready for the fight,” Bility said.

The group also wondered how could Coach Kaetu Smith apologize for the team’s shambolic performance but refused to take responsibility for its loss.

SWAL views the postures taken by both the LFA and the technical staff as a disservice to the passionate fans of the national team.
SWAL reminds them that it was the collective support of all Liberians irrespective of their religion, creed political affiliation or financial position that got the Lone Star to where it reached.

Meanwhile, SWAL has asked for further explanations from the Mobilization Committee or its employer the LFA on the reasons behind the Lone Star late arrival in Calabar. The group also hopes that the Mobilization Committee will in the soonest possible time make a full financial report to the Liberian people on its activities.