Mattsson dumps Sierra Leone but praises players
Swedish born technician Lars Olof Mattsson (in photo), after carefully examining his position as the head coach of the Sierra Leone national team Leone Stars, has finally decided to part ways, this is according to a report in the Swedish press Fotbollskanalen.
However, the Sierra Leone Football Association is claiming they are not aware of his resignation. On Wednesday the report claimed Mattsson has had enough of the way football is run in Sierra Leone, he pointed fingers at the Sierra Leone Football Association for working against his plans.
In his two years as the head of the Sierra Leone national team the country has jumped from 129 to 63 in the FIFA World Ranking and was very close to qualifying for the African Nations Cup in South Africa.
The 58years old reiterated that things can’t continue the way they have been during his two years spell with Sierra Leone.
“Now I have resigned, because I cannot go on as we have done during the past two years.
He noted, “I have been very close to resigning several times but I have stayed in because of the players’ commitment to the course. I think the players were absolutely great to deal with.”
He went further to say, “it came to a point where I felt that we playing against a better prepared side. Tunisia defeated us last weekend in the World Cup qualifiers because they had nine games to prepare since last October. We had zero matches to prepare us. It is not easy. Then there is the issue of the removal of players and cancellation to include their own players, everything is politics.”
The Swede further articulated his worst disappointment after realising official’s ugly development by bringing players of their choice.
Mattsson said. “I didn’t even know some of the players before the Tunisia encounter. I contacted some players on Facebook and e-mail and out of the 25 players I invited, we ended up with 16.
There was a player who had been on the Chelsea FC reserve, and when he came to the gathering in Tunis it turned out that he had a passport which had expired in February. We got involved with him before the game and asked if they accepted that he will play because we had all the documents on him. But an hour and a half before the game he could not be with the squad. It would have been his first match. So an hour and a half before the game I did not even know everyone in the squad and it felt like that.”
Sierra Express Sports UK will be contacting Mattsson for a direct insight on his resignation.
Stay with Sierra Express Media, for your trusted place in news!
© 2013, https:. All rights reserved.
