Practically twenty years since retirement, he stays a luminous determine. He’s, in any case, a president — not of a membership, firm or a soccer federation however of his native Liberia.
Not that that ever mattered to his son, Tim.
“I simply checked out my dad as my dad,” Tim Weah mentioned. “I didn’t begin to notice [he was famous] till individuals would cease him to take pictures on the mall.”
On the pitch as of late, Tim Weah, 22, carries the household identify. This month, barring any last-minute setbacks, he’ll accomplish one thing his adorned father by no means did: He’ll play within the World Cup.
Born in Brooklyn and with roots in Queens, Weah is a winger on the U.S. national team, which is able to open Group B on Nov. 21 in opposition to Wales in suburban Doha.
“He is residing by way of me as a result of he by no means acquired the chance,” Tim mentioned of his 56-year-old father. “He is excited. He is completely happy.”
For all his athletic feats over an 18-year profession, George Weah fell in need of qualifying for the World Cup with the weak Liberian program. The closest the Lone Stars got here was 2002, once they completed one point behind Nigeria for an automated berth.
That absence relegated him into a bunch of all-time greats, together with Northern Eire’s George Finest, Wales’s Ryan Giggs and multinational Alfredo Di Stefano, who loved distinctive careers however missed soccer’s greatest international occasion.
Tim Weah (pronounced Method-UH) has made a reputation for himself, rising from the New York youth scene to Paris Saint-Germain, Glasgow Celtic and, for the previous three seasons, Lille, which won the 2020-21 French Ligue 1 title.
Eligible to characterize 4 nations — France by way of residency and Liberia and Jamaica by way of lineage — he’s been with the U.S. program for the reason that U-15 nationwide group.
“I knew nothing however the States,” he mentioned. “The selection was quite simple.”
Weah starred at the U-17 World Cup in 2017 and debuted with the senior group in 2018. Within the buildup to the 2022 World Cup, he began eight of the 14 qualifiers, scored in Jamaica and contributed to some different objectives.
He’s a unique sort of participant than his father, who was a middle ahead blessed with a mixture of power, velocity and a devastating shot. Tim doesn’t have his father’s physique, leaner and extra reliant on quickness and creativity to stretch defenses from a large place, create area for teammates and facilitate scoring threats. George Weah averaged nearly a objective over each two matches of his profession; Tim has by no means scored greater than thrice in a membership season.
Well-known father however, “what he’s completed speaks for itself,” mentioned U.S. midfielder Tyler Adams, 23, who has recognized the Weah household since adolescence.
“We have to keep in mind,” U.S. midfielder Yunus Musah mentioned, “Tim is his personal participant and he’s doing his personal factor now.”
Defender Walker Zimmerman recalled studying years in the past about his teammate’s revered dad or mum.
“I couldn’t consider it,” he mentioned. “I assumed, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s loopy. This man is royalty.’ ”
None of it might have been potential had George Weah not strolled right into a Chase Manhattan Financial institution department in Queens within the early Nineties and turn into smitten with a customer support consultant named Clar Duncan.
George Weah was born in Monrovia, Liberia, and performed most of his profession in Africa and Europe. However he additionally visited household in New York repeatedly; Staten Island is residence to the largest Liberian expat community outdoors Africa.
Duncan and Weah married in 1993 and, as Weah’s profession abroad soared, began a household in New York. Tim was their third youngster. He grew up in Valley Stream on Lengthy Island, simply outdoors Queens, and, after the household relocated to South Florida for 4 years, they settled in Queens.
His mom was one in all his first coaches. “If I have been the coach,” George Weah told the U.S. Soccer Federation in 2018, “perhaps Tim’s not going to play as a result of I’m a really powerful coach.”
George Weah was additionally a really powerful participant to defend. With Monaco between 1988 and ’92, he received the primary of his three African participant of the yr trophies. His subsequent stops have been PSG and AC Milan for a 6½-year experience that included three league titles. In 1995, he was the European, African and world participant of the yr and the highest scorer within the UEFA Champions League.
Weah used the game and the nationwide group to assist deliver pleasure to a rustic shattered by civil struggle. “I made a decision to be sturdy and play to raised the detrimental picture of my nation,” he told the Guardian in 2000.
Liberia has by no means certified for the World Cup and superior to the Africa Cup of Nations twice. The present squad is ranked No. 150 by FIFA and 46th out of 54 teams on the continent.
Tim Weah appreciates the hurdles his father cleared to turn into a hit.
“You see a variety of battle, however in that battle, there’s a variety of happiness,” Tim Weah mentioned of Liberia. “It humbles you, coming from a spot [in America and Europe] the place it’s a quick life and, with a variety of the individuals we meet, it’s simply transactional. You return and free your thoughts, and it’s such a loving surroundings.”
The elder Weah didn’t flip his again on his homeland. In 2004, ESPN offered him the Arthur Ashe Courage Award for humanitarian efforts, and he has used his wealth to assist bankroll the nationwide group.
George Weah attended the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and introduced alongside 10-year-old Tim. They witnessed a number of matches, together with the Spain-Netherlands remaining, and explored the nation. The publicity to high-level soccer, Tim mentioned, motivated him to take the sport severely.
“It was undoubtedly at a time the place I used to be like, ‘Okay, seeing this, I undoubtedly need to be on the group the subsequent time I’m at a World Cup,’ ” he mentioned.
At 14, Weah was invited to hitch PSG’s youth academy. Teammates included different future professionals equivalent to Yacine Adli (AC Milan), Odsonne Edouard (Crystal Palace) and Boubakary Soumaré (Leicester Metropolis).
Three years later, he signed his first professional contract. Most of two seasons have been spent with PSG’s B group, however there have been tastes of first-team soccer, and he shared the sector with superstars Neymar and Kylian Mbappé.
Common enjoying time was laborious to return by, so PSG loaned him to Celtic for the final half of the 2018-19 season. He scored three objectives throughout the Glasgow membership’s championship run.
With out a agency pathway at talent-rich PSG, Weah moved to Lille, however hamstring accidents price him nearly the complete 2019-20 marketing campaign. Again at full power the subsequent season, Weah helped the northern membership win its first Ligue 1 title in 10 years and finish PSG’s three-year reign.
On the worldwide degree, his senior debut got here in March 2018 as a part of the U.S. program’s rebuilding course of with younger gamers after its failure to qualify for the World Cup in Russia. Weah turned the primary participant born within the 2000s to play for the nationwide group. Two months later, he posted his first begin and first objective.
His integration took a while, although.
“Timmy was fairly uncooked by way of ways and such, however he checked the containers of pure velocity,” mentioned Dave Sarachan, the interim coach on the time. “It didn’t occur straight away. I had a number of conversations with him, speaking about being affected person. You may inform he could be a man for the longer term.”
Whereas Tim’s profession was taking form, his father delved deeper into politics. A failed presidential candidate in 2005, he was elected to the Liberian Senate earlier than launching a profitable presidential marketing campaign in 2017. He’s in a six-year time period to guide a nation of 5 million.
On diplomatic journeys in Europe, George usually visits his son. Throughout the winter and summer time breaks, Tim finds himself in Liberia, Jamaica and New York.
Soccer isn’t the one household affect that has formed his life. So has music.
“In our home, my dad and mom performed Marvin Gaye, Luther Vandross, a variety of Jamaican outdated tunes,” he mentioned.
At his own residence, Tim has constructed a recording studio and works along with his French producer, Fleetzy. He has recorded a number of tracks; his choice is lure soul, a subgenre of rhythm and blues that borrows from rap and soul.
“Soccer is first,” he mentioned. “However we’ve got a lot free time, it would not take a variety of effort to sit down down and write. On the identical time I am resting my physique, I’m doing one thing I like.”
Weah was the plain option to turn into the U.S. group’s designated DJ. All kinds of music juices the locker room: lure soul, hip-hop, reggaeton, nation, in addition to “old-school music for the coaches,” he mentioned, smiling.
Weah famous the improvisational qualities in each soccer and music.
“You must be artistic on the sector in addition to within the studio,” he mentioned. “You’ve acquired to assume outdoors the field. You must give the individuals what they love, whether or not it’s tips [on the field] or catchy lyrics.”
In Qatar, the younger U.S. squad might want to hit the precise notes to advance out of a balanced group headlined by England, the People’ second opponent, Nov. 25.
“A group is sort of a band,” Weah mentioned. “All of us need to work collectively to get the precise end result. For us to make the sound correct, all of us need to play the identical chords. Everybody has to play collectively.”
He’ll do his half in entrance of household, and in entrance of a father who by no means acquired the prospect to play on soccer’s greatest stage.
“, it’s life: Some individuals make World Cups, some individuals don’t, so hopefully I can simply get the chance and do proper by him and have a superb World Cup,” Tim Weah mentioned. “That’ll make him tremendous completely happy.”
