Congo Town — The Liberia Football Association, in consultation with the Ministry of Youth and Sports, has confirmed the appointment of Thomas Kojo as interim head coach of the men’s senior national team, following the resignation of Romanian tactician Mario Marinica.
Marinica’s resignation comes amid bad run of results, some outfield issues ranging from delay and unpaid salaries to inadequate support towards the national team training, FrontPageAfrica gathered.
Marinica, whose mandate was to ensure that Liberia reach the AFCON finals for Morocco 2025, began his Lone Star campaign on the brilliant note, and result became miserable for the Romanian.
However, Kojo, who replaced James Salinsa Debbah as stand-in-coach in 2018, before being given a permanent role, was announced on Saturday to take temporary charge of the senior national team.
Kojo, who is currently serving the Director for Sports at the Youth and Sports Ministry, was previously dismissed by the Football House after failing to fulfill his mandate.
According to the LFA release, Kojo will lead the team in the upcoming 2024 African Nations Championship (CHAN) qualifiers and the remaining matches of the 2025 AFCON qualifiers.
The release indicated that as the national team head coach, he has been given the leverage to select his own backroom staff ahead of these competitions.
Kojo, who served as deputy coach to former Lone Star Coach Ansu Keita before Keita’s dismissal, will kickstart his Lone Star journey with a match against Sierra Leone in the first round of the CHAN qualifiers first leg scheduled for 25-27 October and the second leg between 1-3 November.
He will resume Lone Star AFCON duty late in November when his team host to Togo at the Samuel Kanyon Doe Sports Complex before an away fixture and Algeria in the final two rounds of the qualifiers for Morocco 2025.
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Publish date : 2024-10-21 11:21:03
