George Opong Weah did not shed tears openly but he came very close. As Nigeria's victory over Ghana completely drowned his dream of a first World Cup appearance, and in an apparent escape from the trauma, Weah found a sense of relief in alleging a pre-arranged game.

Speaking in New York to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the Liberian team motivator, sponsor and coach/spokesman said: "I am very disappointed that Ghana's defeat had ruined our aim. The only thing I can say now is that there was a struggle and we did very well and our best to qualify."

According to him, from the outset, he knew there was going to be a bargain between Nigeria and Ghana in order to edge Liberia out, adding that the boast of Ghana to beat Nigeria was mere propaganda.

Weah alleged that the Black Stars allowed the three goals just to scuttle his chances of appearing in the World Cup to be co-hosted by Japan and South Korea next year.

"You heard from the reporter that Ghana didn't put up any fight. Their hope is out of the World Cup, but they just went to Nigeria for the sake of it and I knew Ghana was only going to do such thing. For me, I had no hope because I knew Ghana was only going to Nigeria to have some fun."

On why he was blaming Ghana for his failure not to qualify for the World Cup, Weah said: "I am not blaming Ghana for it because from the beginning I knew they are a weak team to qualify for the World Cup.

"I spoke to Taribo, he told me they were going to qualify .... They went to World Cup before, and deserve it because they play very hard and coming behind the table to the top shows how superior they are. Nigerians have a very great team but Liberia is a very little team".

Weah lamented that Liberia's failure was the loss at home in the hands of Ghana, adding that Liberia would always stage a come back for the mundial game.

"We came so close, but the Liberian players must be responsible for what happened. I think they are regretting that now. The Liberian people did everything for the team to qualify, I must commend them. We tried because nobody expected us to go that far ."