Stakeholders Want Landi Sacked for Swedish Coaches


With the senior national team of Liberia the Lone Star once more failing to qualify for another African Nations Cup finals despite huge investment in a Hungarian Coach Bertalan Bicskei now deceased and an Italian in Roberto Landi, followers of the team and a host of stakeholders are calling for the sacking of the Italian for the Swedish duo, Sven Sjunnesson and Djorn Peters.

The pair who recently visited Liberia based on an invitation of the head of the Sports Develop Underprivileged (SDU) Emmanuel Geeza Williams who is based in the United States did meet with authorities of the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the Liberia Fotball Association where they presented a package for the country's football development program.

Both Coaches who are no doubt amongst Sweden's best coaches at the moment, noted that Liberian football is at a low ebb and that here is a need to focus on the grassroot level.

Speaking at a local radio station during their visit in Liberia, the pair hinted that they are keen to take over the Liberian national team and that there is a need to focus on the U-15 through the U-23 and then the senior national team where there will be an organized program as players will go through the ranks.

They also promised to train local coaches, link the country's players to top clubs overseas and even create the condition for youth teams to partake in competitions like the Gothia Cup in Sweden which brought to the fore the likes of Dulee Johnson and Dioh Williams.

With the two Coaches and Mr. Williams since returning to their respective bases, a plethora of stakeholders who were able to monitor their activities while in the country via reports in the media are now recommending to the Liberia Football Association to sack the Italian Roberto Landi for the two highly result oriented coaches as their cvs indicate whom they believe have the tactical panacea to the country's football program.

Speaking to a host of journalists recently, the officials of some of the country's clubs in the
country, notably the Premier, First, Second and third division say they are convinced that the Swedish coaches have the best way forward for the country's football program and as such the LFA must laise with the sports ministry in hiring them. ALbert Johnson Emmanuel Carson, Frederick Dweh, Reginald Nagbe, Samuel Thompson, Felecia Tongbeh, Chris Cumings and a host of others from clubs including Shooting Eagles, Jasmine Rangers, FC Fassell, Mighty Conquerors, Mighty Blue Anglels, Soccer Tigers, etc. are amongst those calling for the sacking of Coach Landi for the Swedish tacticians.

They also intoned that Landi has become a disappointment as he has failed miserably due to his inability to remain on the ground in developing the country's football, something the two tacticians from Sweden have promised to do where they will not only focus on the capital Monrovia, but various parts of the country as they would embark on scouting talents for the future. Besides, the stakeholders say the Lone Star under Landi lacks organization and there is no definite style of play, no criteria for selection and basically, continuity lacking and wonder i the first place why was Landi appointed to head the Lone Star when his Cv shows that he is a perennial underachiever as he has never won anything, thus having an empty or less important Cv which makes him incompetent for a top national team job.

Sources close to the LFA say Landi rarely gives technical report after matches and is in the next available flight to Europe immediately after an international match, be it at home or abroad. Also, they argue that the coach has never honored a post match conference at home and does not have any written program for the country's football program in the next two to three years.

With the Lone Star expected to face Club M of Mauritius in the first leg of the 2014 World Cup elimination series where the second leg is expected to be played in Monrovia in two weeks, the LFA have been urged to act quickly in terminating the contract of Landi for the Swedish coaches as a way forward for the country's football program.