George Weah, part-time Queens resident and 1995 FIFA Player of the Year, said he plans to settle in New York and would love to play for the MetroStars. Just not yet.
Weah, who turns 35 in October, has more soccer to play in Europe, and more lives to save in his native Liberia.
One of the world’s finest strikers and humanitarians, he’s finally coming to play in Giants Stadium. It won’t be for the Metro- Stars, but in a Liberia-Colombia exhibition game. But as usual with Weah, it will be for a good cause.
That Aug. 4 friendly, part of a MetroStars-Miami doubleheader, will be for charity. The Union of Churches had rounded up $10 million in medical supplies from southern hospitals, but couldn’t foot the $750,000 bill to ship them to Liberia. As usual, Weah was there.
“I owe a lot to the people,” said Weah, who is Liberia’s UNICEF ambassador and has spent $2 million of his own money to help his poverty-striken, war-torn country, where 80 percent live below the poverty line.
“I must give them back what they gave me. I try to save my country anyway possible. It’s a very deplorable situation. Things are hard, people were traumatized,” said Weah, who starred for, coached and funded the national team that raised morale.
And if Nigeria draws or loses at home Sunday vs. Ghana, Liberia will earn a spot in next year’s World Cup.
“Through the seven-year civil war, that’s the only positive symbol we had. We had a lot of problems, but when [we] played, it was the only pride we had. God knows if we go, it will change a lot of people’s lives.”
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MetroStars on-again, off-again reacquisition of Giovanni Savarese is on again. MLS deputy commissioner Ivan Gazidis found a loophole that would allow them to sign the Venezuelan because foreign allocation Roy Myers is out for the year and they’re owed a marque replacement for Clint Mathis. Expect the saga to end soon.