3rd May, 2011
Chief Coach of Liberia’s U-23 team, Roberto Landi believes his side, that went down 1-6 to Nigeria’s U-23 Eagles in the All Africa Games qualifier last weekend, are a team for the future.
Landi is glad with the display of his boys in the game watched by a capacity crowd, which included top government officials at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin, Edo State, Nigeria.
Landi, who served as goalkeeper coach for the United States men’s national soccer team during their 1990 and 1994 FIFA World Cup campaigns said: “My boys did well in the match, only that they were unlucky to have conceded the scandalous defeated to the Nigerian team.
“The problem we had in the match was that after we scored the first goal, the players went to sleep and I must confess, we paid dearly for the error.
“These players are very young and we paraded mostly local players from our country’s league. My plan is to groom them for the future of our national team. With the stiff opposition we gave the highly rated Nigerian team today (Saturday), I think with good support, my players will go places in the future.â€
Benedict Miapeh, a technical officer with Cellcom Telecommunications of Liberia, sponsor of the Liberian national teams, believes in the plan of Landi. He told P.M.Sports after the match that he was proud of the team in defeat.
“Though we lost, our boys did give the Nigerians a tough game. We drew the first blood and don’t forget that we held the U-23 Eagles to 1-1 draw at home in Moronvia two weeks ago. You can also see the ruggedness of our boys against Nigeria. We won’t lose hope on the defeat by Nigeria. We will go back to the drawing board to prepare the players for the future.
“Like what the Chief Coach said, the boys are a good team for the future of our senior national team. We are going home with our heads high,†he said.
By Taiwo Adelu, Benin