At the World Cup in Qatar, the first goal for the United States was born in 2000, young forward Timothy Weah.
The name means a lot, as he had a father named George Weah.
In this way, Timothy Weah became the first son of a "Ballon d'Or" winner in history to score a goal in the World Cup; It was also the first time in the history of the World Cup that a goal had been scored by the son of a country's president.
A star in need of "archaeology", George Weah, now the President of the Republic of Liberia, was a top striker in world football in the 90s who combined technique, speed and strength.
How strong was Old Weah back then?
He is the first non-European player to receive the European Footballer of the Year award since the restructuring of the "Ballon d'Or" (the selection of European players changed from European players to all players who play in the European League).
It was 1995, the year when Old Weah was elected World Footballer of the Year and African Footballer of the Year for his outstanding performance at Serie A giants AC Milan. Being able to combine these three "footballers of the United Nations" is a feat that has never been done before and has never been seen since.
On 8 September 1996, in the first round of the 1996–97 Serie A season, Viah Sr. scored a wonderful goal comparable to Maradona's "goal of the century" at the 1986 World Cup, which became a classic moment in football history.
In the 85th minute of the game, the corner kick of the Verona team fell directly to the feet of the old Weah, and he started to run wildly with the ball from the penalty area of his own side and several people, running more than 80 meters and scoring a goal.
On his club-level resume, the elder has lifted the Serie A trophy twice at AC Milan and won the Ligue 1 title for Paris Saint-Germain.
The national team and the World Cup are the stars from the small African country of Liberia, which will always be regretted in his heart.
Due to the long period of turmoil in Liberia, their national team is not only at the second- and third-rate level in Africa, but it is also a problem to survive.
The elder Weah, who had already made a name for himself in Europe, stepped forward and played for Paris Saint-Germain and AC Milan, where he used $2 million from his personal salary of $15 million to help the Liberian national team not be disbanded. When the Liberian team faced FIFA's suspension penalty for arrears, it was the old Weah who paid for it out of his own pocket.
In the 1996 Africa Cup of Nations, the elder Weah participated in an international competition for the first time, and he covered all the expenses of the Liberian team's equipment, airfare, accommodation and so on.
Of course, the elder's biggest dream is to be able to appear in the World Cup like his team-mates at European clubs.
In the 1998 World Cup African qualifiers in France, Old Weah also paid for the national team's winning prize money and away matches, but Liberia failed to reach the World Cup finals.
At the time of the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup African qualifiers, the 35-year-old Weah wore three roles - president of the Liberian Football Association, head coach and captain of the national team, and as always, he paid for the travel expenses, salaries and bonuses of the entire national team. Unfortunately, the Liberian team was ultimately one point away from making the Old Weah dream of the World Cup come true.
At the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Old Weah's son Timothy Weah finally wore the American team jersey to help his father realize his long-cherished wish of playing in the World Cup, and he scored his first goal on his debut. His father, who was already President of the Republic of Liberia, should be comforted.
Having grown up in turbulent Liberia, as a footballer he felt powerless about the situation at home. All this made the elder Weah realize that just as he led the team on the football field, he can also lead the country out of the chaos and downturn to prosperity.
After retiring in 2003, the elder Weah, who had a great appeal in Liberia, founded the "Congress for Democratic Change" and began his political career.
Old Weah participated in the first elections in the Republic of Liberia since the civil war in 2005. Although in the first round of voting he came out on top with 28.3% support, in the second round he lost to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who became the first female president in African history, with 40.6% to 59.4% support.
Being caught by his opponent for "not having a decent formal education" made the old Weah decide to lie down and try his luck. In 2007, at the age of 41, he won a high Chinese; He then went to study economics at DeFrey University in Miami, USA, where he obtained a degree in economics in 2011 and then completed a master's degree in management.
The elder Weah, who returned from school, won a landslide seat in the 2014 Senate election in Montserrado State and entered the Liberian parliament, which was an important step in his second presidential campaign.
In 2017, the elder Weah was finally elected the 25th President of the Republic of Liberia through two rounds of voting.
Timothy Weah, the third son of the elder Weah, was born in the United States, so he has dual citizenship of the United States and France, and chose to play in the World Cup for the United States national team.
Weah Jr. began professional football training at Red Bull New York's youth academy; In 14, he came to the junior team of Paris Saint-Germain Club in Ligue 1, where his father Weah Sr. once played; He made his Ligue 1 debut at the age of 18. Later, Weah Junior was loaned to Celtic club in the Soviet Premier League for half a season, and after returning he joined Lille FC in Ligue 1 for 10 million euros. In the 2020-21 season, Viah Junior also won the Ligue 1 title with Lille.
Weah Jr.'s first appearance for the U.S. team came in March 2018, when he came off the bench in the U.S. 1-0 win over Paraguay, becoming the first post-00s player to play for the U.S. senior national team.
Those famous footballers who went into politics
(Excluding the post of Minister of Sports)
Albert Goodmunsen (Iceland)
Born in 1923, Albert Goodmondsen played for many European clubs such as Arsenal, Milan and Nice as a young man, and entered politics after retiring. He held important positions such as Iceland's Minister of Finance and Minister of Industry until his death in 1994.
Rivera (Italy)
AC Milan's legendary player Rivera has won three Serie A titles and won the European Footballer of the Year Golden Ball. After entering politics, Rivera served as Italy's deputy defense minister and as a member of the Italian parliament.
Karadze (Georgia)
It seems that AC Milan's players have a tradition of politics, in addition to Rivera and Giorgio Weah, as well as Georgian defender Karadze, who has been with San Siro for many years. After retiring from the military, he quickly entered politics, serving as Georgia's deputy prime minister, energy minister, and mayor of Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia.
Blanco (Mexico)
The Mexican striker, who likes to "leapfrogg" at the World Cup, is now the governor of the Mexican state of Morelos.
Tomasi (Italy)
Former Roma star Torcius was elected mayor of Verona, Italy. At the end of his career, he played for Tianjin TEDA FC in the Chinese Super League.
Johannathan (Faroe Islands)
Johannesen, who was a goalkeeper as a player, played for HB Tórshavn in the Faroe Islands for 20 years. In 2008, Johanneson became Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands, a position he held until 2015.
Romario (Brazil)
Nicknamed "Lone Wolf", Romario was Brazil's main striker when the United States won the 1994 U.S. World Cup. In March 2018, he announced his candidacy for governor of Rio de Janeiro state. Last year, Romario also briefly served as acting president of the Brazilian Senate.