I saw something recently about the African Nations Cup which is about to begin, so I thought I'd look around and see if Johnny Menyonger was going to play. There doesn't seem to be a good comprehensive information source about the tournament and all the teams, but I did find this article from the Liberian team's site - http://www.lonestarsoccer.com/Lineup.htm

Johnny is listed (although the spelling is a bit different, John Menyongai) as a midfielder. Apparently there's a bit of controversy about the player selection and some of the players that King George Weah left out - including former Arsenal player Chris Wreh who I think is Weah's cousin - so it's good to see Johnny on the roster. I have no idea if he'll actually play or not, though.

Liberia's first game is Saturday the 19th against host Mali.

[ 01-14-2002: Message edited by: Leprechaun ]

Good call on finding the roster for the Liberians! But what about Dionysuis Sebwe? Talking with a guy from church who is Liberian, he hadn't heard of Johnny, but his eyes lit up when I mentioned Sebwe! Dionysuis gets more playing time with the nationals than Johnny, but can't seem to break into Buzz's defensive scheme. Just my two cents, I think Buzz should find a way to get Sebwe into the games.

D'oh.

I totally missed the fact that Sebwe was on the roster as well. I edited the thread title to put his name in there too.

I've always been curious as to why Dionysius doesn't play more for the Thunder. Does anyone else out there have any insight or thoughts on that?

It'll be interesting to see if either or both of them play, and if so how much, in this tournament.

Update for today:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/soccer/news/2002/01/16/liberia_dispute/
There was apparently a dispute about how much the Liberian players would get payed for appearing in this tournament, but the players backed down after being convinced that the Liberian FA doesn't have any money to pay them any more than the $6500 they were originally scheculed to get. So, they're back in training and getting ready for their first game on Saturday.

It looks like a disappointing result for Liberia in the opener as they give up an 87th minute equalizer and end in a 1-1 tie with host Mali. From this article:
http://www.cafonline.com/news.asp?id=41
it appears Johnny M came on in the 79th minute in what turned out to be Liberia's only substitution. I couldn't find anything about unused subs, so no word if Dionysius was on the bench. He was on the final 22 man roster, though. I found this report:
http://www.lonestarsoccer.com/reports/with_barely_a_few_hours_to_the_k.htm
on the Liberian Team site that has short bios of all the players in the final 22, including Johnny and Dionysius. It mentions the fact that they play for the Thunder in both of their bios.

Also, for what it's worth, looking at some of the other articles there regarding pay disputes, player walkouts, meetings with the President and so on, all the problems the Thunder had last summer with getting Johnny to come back after World Cup Qualifiers don't surprise me in the least.

[ 01-21-2002: Message edited by: Leprechaun ]

Update for today:
http://www.cafonline.net/mReport.asp?MatchID=704
Liberia ties with Algeria 2-2. Both Johnny and Dionysius see action as substitutes, coming on at minutes 70 and 71 respectively. Unfortunately, the Lone Star again gave up a late goal, this time in the 90th minute. They probably now need to win their final group match against Nigeria to get through to the quarterfinals. They may still be able to make it with a draw and some help - although I've no idea what the tiebreaking procedures are.

Just to follow up and add some closure to this topic...

Yesterday Liberia lost 1-0 to tournament favorites Nigeria, meaning they finish third in their group and do not advance to the quarterfinals. Mali beat Algeria in the other group game to advance along with Nigeria. George Weah has stated that he will retire and this was his last game for Liberia.

As far as Thunder related news, Dionysius started and went 90 minutes in defense, while Johnny was on the bench but did not play.