“Mr. Scientific” is Lone Star New Head Coach
-Vows to Focus on Local Talents
By M.V. Paasewe (Liberiansoccer Sr. Editor)
August 6, 2002

The disbanded Liberia national soccer team, the Lone Star, has a new head coach in person of Kadala Kromah.
 

The appointment of Mr. Kromah, our Liberia Football Association (LFA) source says, was sanctioned by the executive committee of the LFA and endorsed by the Youth and Sports Minister Max Dennis in a letter addressed to the FA general secretary Yanqueh Borsay recently.

Kadala Kromah, otherwise known as “Mr. Scientific”, becomes Lone Star head honcho at a time when professional players--who comprised a hefty chunk of the original Lone Star that took Liberia to the 2002 African Nations Cup in Mali, and nearly qualified Africa’s oldest republic for its first-ever World Cup appearance, are not sure where they stand in the “reorganized” national team, whatever that means.

Kadala also heads Lone Star at a time the nation is facing its worst crisis in recent history: sanctions, dissident incursion, accusations of rampant corruption, and a ramshackle economy; as Liberia expects to meet Ghana in the first round of the All African Games qualifying rounds in Monrovia on September 22, 2002.

Moreover, Liberia is expected to clash with Guinea September 8, 2002 in a Group II away encounter of the Confederation of African Football tournament Tunisia 2004 qualifiers. Surprisingly, in the midst of the myriad odds, the new Lone Star head coach says he’s goal-bound for victory. His trump card? The local talents. Coach Kromah says he would deploy the Liberia Under-23 against Guinea.

Skeptics may harbor reservations about Kadala Kromah’s enthusiasm, but it’s difficult denying that “Mr. Scientific” has accumulated an enviable wealth of experience. Among his grudging record in sports training is an Advanced Certificate in Coaching from the Federal Republic of Germany. He is also a graduate of the Institute of Sports in Lagos, Nigeria.

Besides being a former national soccer team player and ex-head coach of the Lone Star, Kadala Kromah is a household name in the West African sub-region, having coached not only one of Africa’s formidable soccer giants, the Accra Hearts of Oak in Ghana, he has also coached the Inugu Rangers of Nigeria as well. In 1996, “Mr. Scientific” also coached a champion team in Cameroon.

“Time is so short, and we are just concentrating on reconstruction of the national team,” Kadala informed Liberiansoccer.com when our Liberia correspondent bumped into the new Lone Star coach today at the LFA Headquarters downtown Monrovia. There, Mr. Kromah admitted that he has been religiously frequenting the Antoinette Tubman Stadium to check out local talents from the ongoing league.

Local talents from the ongoing soccer league would have formed nucleus of the new Lone Star, remarked LFA president Edwin Snowe recently. Unfortunately, Snowe has traveled abroad for further studies, leaving the fate of the new national team in uncertain hands.

In any case, coach “Scientific” too concurs that local talents will be the fulcrum of the reconstructed national team. “But I will be looking at the high school league, the university league and also at players from other counties that are now participating in the national league,” he said.

As for the professional players, Coach Kromah says everyone will be evaluated prior to their coming, to ensure that they come to make the new Lone Star a success. “Only those invited will come; the uninvited ones won’t come,” he sternly emphasized.

“Except for Prince Daye and a few others, most of our professionals are playing substandard football,” coach Kromah admits, adding, his goal is to build “a youthful, strong, home-based soccer team”.

“I want the Liberian people to be a little patient. I know there’s high expectation for success. But Rome wasn't built in a day. The program that I have designed will help us move forward,” he said.

On the question of the professional players having the proclivity to push local coaches around, Kadala maintains he’s not the kind of coach that pro players can push around. “I am a semester from obtaining my Masters degree, so I’m not the type to be pushed around by anybody,” declares the new Lone Star head coach, adding, he’s coming with a new mission to rebuild the team.

Many agree that Kadala Kromah deserves the post. “He’s definitely one of the best hands around. He’s the best man for now,” admits Siebo Williams, former President of the Sports Writers Association of Liberia (SWAL).

But that’s as far Mr. Williams’ enthusiasm goes when it comes to predicting Liberia's prospects for qualification of the next African Nations Cup. “We won’t make any progress without the economy being on our side,” the veteran sports analyst says.

Siebo believes the bad economy would be our Waterloo to qualifying. “Things are tough, and we pray for improvement. Technically, we still have chance to put our house in order, but if the economy doesn’t improve, we won’t go anywhere,” he says.

Siebo, like most Liberians believes, besides the bad economy, the decision of coach Kadala Kromah to use the Under-23 national soccer team for the continental qualifiers is bad karma. “Any coach that would want to win a major competition with lot of greenhorns is bound to fail,” Siebo avers, adding, Liberia needs experienced players for international competitions.

 “The game against Guinea is a crucial match for Liberia, as we are paired against Ethiopia and Niger as well. Featuring the Under-23 will be mistake. I think Kadala must play his cards right this time around. There are couple of players plying their trade in Europe and other places. Kadala should scout for them and add a few of our local players to make up the new team,” says Jimmie B. Weah, another Liberian sports analyst who has expressed a vote of no confidence in the local talents.

 “I’ve seen our local players at the ATS, playing in the national league. I’m not trying to degrade our local boys, but let's call spade a spade… our local players lack vision. If I were local coach, I wouldn’t select any of the local players from the ongoing league. They are not up to the task,” says another Lone Star watcher at the Alpha Athletic Sports Center on Carey Street.

 Anyhow, the man who gained the nickname “Mr. Scientific” when he coached the University of Liberia football team in the 1980s, indeed has a lot to prove. Besides being forced to skillfully employ the highly acclaimed “scientific” tactics that made him famous when he led Liberia LPRC Oilers and other continental national teams to their individual laurels, Kadala Kromah must step into the oversized boots of the seemingly irreplaceable George Oppong Weah.