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Roberto Landi, new coach of Liberia National Team

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LFA appoints Roberto Landi, as temporary replacement to Bertalan Bicskei

With the ailing health of Bertalan Bicskei, the Liberia Football Association (LFA) has moved quickly to fill the void created by appointing Italian Roberto Landi as temporary replacement to the Hungarian.
Landi, a buddy to LFA vice president Musa Shannon, has certainly landed the post he so desperately sought for but was twice denied with two interviewing panels opting for German Antoine Hey and Bicskei.
In a live broadcast on his media empire (Truth 96.1 FM and Real TV) on March 12, LFA president Musa Bility revealed that Landi was selected based on a recommendation from the technical committee, which had earlier rejected him.
According to Bility, Landi will earn the same US$15,000 (fifteen-thousand United States dollars) monthly wage of his predecessor and is due in Monrovia this week.
“Landi is coming under the Fifa emergency program that I talked about the other day when I addressed sports journalists. He will be here next week and let’s hope he picks-up from where Bicskei left,” Bility said.
But it is still not clear who will be paying the Italian’s wages and other amenities and whether the FA will still be paying Bicskei.
Landi’s first test is in Praia when Liberia take on Cape Verde in the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying rounds on March 27.
Liberia are bottom of Group “A” with a point from two games, having drawn with Zimbabwe 1-1 at the Samuel Kanyon Doe Sports Complex in Paynesville on September 5 and lost 1-2 to Mali at the March 26 Stadium in Bamako on October 8, 2010.

Landi must first review the local contingent, who has been training under the watchful eyes of assistant coach Gabriel Johns (who had told this paper he quitted the post due to unpaid wages) before awaiting the foreign based players already selected by the FA. 
Zah Kranger will make a return to the national team in addition to France-based Alhassan Kamara and four new players from the United States of America, according to Bility.
Sekou Jabateh-Oliseh, whose fitness is being monitored, captain Anthony Laffor, Theo Weeks, Jimmy Dixon and Stephen Mennoh are some of the players who will make the journey to Praia, FrontPageAfrica understands.

Landi served as goalkeeping coach for the United States of America during the Fifa World Cups in 1990 in Italy and four years later in the USA.
From 1992 to 1993, he served as head coach of Italian conference club Marignano.
In 1998, he became head coach of the Georgian under-21 team, and later filled the coach consultant position for the Lithuanian team in 2001.
In January 2005, he became head coach of National Bucharest, where he achieved a record 17 wins in a row and was later appointed as Qatar under-21 head coach.
He successively served as FC Sopron head coach in the 2006-07 season. On October 2007, he was linked with the managing position at Port Vale F.C. and Fulham F.C.
Roberto obtained a UEFA “A” Pro License during 2007-08 campaign at Coverciano, the technical center of Italian Football Federation in Florence.
He became manager of Livingston F.C. in June 2008, his first experience in British football championships.

 

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