Timothy, the son of the extraordinary George Weah, achieved what his father never could: he made his debut and became a World Cup winner

There are those who say that children must surpass their parents in life. In any business. Maybe Timothy won’t have three Golden Ball nor did I become president like the Liberian George Weahhis father, but got to play one world Cup and also scored a goal on his debut.

When he was already a young man with a future, Timothy had four options to be a national team player: Liberia, George’s birthplace; Jamaica, by his mother; France, where he had already been playing for a couple of years and also had his nationality through his father; or United States, his hometown. It was at the end of 2017 when he agreed to play for the US team and five years later he just scored the first Yankee goal at the World Cup in Qatar. “I knew nothing but the United States. The choice was very simple”, he confessed some time later.

His father was an amazing striker who won the African Ballon d’Or in 1989 and 1994, the European one in 1995and that he tried three times unsuccessfully to qualify Liberia for a World Cup. Last time, for Korea/Japan 2002, the Liberian national team dominated their group during the qualifiers and reached the final date, July 29, 2001, when they were released. Nigeria beat Ghana 3-0 to qualify. Little Tim, born in New York, where his family settled after the first Liberian civil war, was only one year and five months old.

Tim was born on February 22, 2000 in Brooklyn, one of the most characteristic cities of New York. Giorgio had already left Milan, where he shone for four and a half seasons, and was at Chelsea in England. Then he would go to Manchester City and later to Olympique de Marseille. Those were times when He flew every week on a Concorde, the supersonic plane that connected London to New York in less than 4 hours, to spend time with his family, who resided in Valley Stream on Long Island just outside of Queens. After living for a time in New York, the Weahs moved to Pembroke Pines, an American city in southern Broward County, Florida.

Although he obtained French nationality when already playing for Paris Saint Germain, in 1993 and after four years playing for Monaco, to no longer occupy a foreign quota, and the North American, thanks to his second wife Clar Duncan, George always had his country at heart. “I am very proud to be a Liberian. I love my country and its people. Of course I would have loved to play in the World Cup, but I have achieved so much in my sports career that I cannot complain. The only disappointment is that many ‘Lone All-Stars didn’t go to the World Cup or have the personal success that I have.”

Weah he retired at the age of 36, in 2002, to then enter politics. In 2018 he was elected president of his country. It can be said that Tim is the first son of a President of the Republic to score a goal in the history of the World Cup.

Tim has two older brothers, George Jr and Tita, and from a young age he embraced his passion for soccer. In Florida he played for West Pines United FC, but the family later moved back to New York to Queens where Tim continued to play for Rosedale Soccer Club, a club owned by Michael Weah, Timothy’s uncle.

But his fate was, like his father, in France. The 22-year-old told it in an interview: “We made the decision with my mother to sign in Paris because my father had played there, because I had family there and because I knew the president was a good person. I’ve always wanted to play it. When I arrived there were Zlatan, Di María, Thiago Silva. Players I’ve seen on TV. They have been role models for me.”

Furthermore, he recounted what he felt in those early days: “When I trained with him (for Neymar) for the first time, it was crazy, I made my dream come true. Just imagine, at 18 you already have this opportunity, it was incredible”.

After a few seasons in Paris Saint Germain’s youth retreat, Tim made his Ligue 1 debut on 3 March 2018 against Troyes (2-0) to replace the Argentine Giovani Lo Celso, who has just finished the world cup due to injury. Twenty-five days later, he also made his debut for the North American team, in a 1-0 victory over the United States. Curiosity of his life, on January 22 of that year his father was elected president of Liberia.

After playing 6 games and scoring two goals for PSG, Tim moved to Celtic of Scotland, where he played 17 games (4 goals) in the 2018/19 season. Since 2019 he has shone at Lille in France (81 games and 8 goals).

“He’s living through me because he never had the chance. He’s excited. He is happy”, Tim said a few days ago in a note published in the Washington Post. There, he also said that the first time he went to a World Cup he went to South Africa in 2010, when he was only 10, accompanying his father. They witnessed Spain triumph over Holland, now the Netherlands, in the final.

He liked that football party so much that he was intimately convinced that one day he would take part in it as a protagonist. He made it. And beyond the draw on his debut, he also doubled his father’s dream: he debuted with a goal in his first World Cup.