Is Lars Largerback, The New Super Eagles Coach, A Magician?

[Iykoko75]

IS Lars Largerback, the new Super Eagles coach, a magician? Is he going to employ some magical wand to make Nigeria win the 2010 World Cup championship in South Africa? Or better still, prepare some magical concoction to lead our Supper Eagles to win a trophy?.

Every right-thinking soccer-loving Nigerian ought to ask this question seriously.  Bcos only a magician could take the present Super Eagles to South Africa and come back with a trophy, not because Nigeria can't achieve such feat but because this team that qualified by sheer luck just CANNOT achieve such feat.

SO MY QUESTION AGAIN: IS LARS LAGERBACK, THE FORMER SWEDISH NATIONAL COACH, A MAGICIAN?

[~Generaltee~]

Funny question, i think...but on a more serious note, some have said that having qualified by sheer luck, it would have been better to support the super eagles team and its former coach, Shaibu Amodu, to South Africa. Such people contend that Shaibu Amodu is in the best position to take the Super Eagles to South Africa and that his sack at this critical stage is misguided.

For me, i think that what the nine-man NFF panel came up with ie hiring a better coach - whether local or foreign, was the best thing under the prevailing circumstance! 

[~Generaltee~]

Sorry, iykoko...about ur question ie whether the new white man is a magician or not remains to be seen. That we will surely decide come south africa later in the year

[syndicated]

To engage a foreign coach just for five months at a huge cost of $1.3 million (N195m) is most insensitive and outrageous. It is a waste of scarce national resources. There is little that Lars Largerback could do in three months before the match kicks off in South Africa. The rest of soccer world would be laughing at Nigeria for this myopic decision. Even, Largerback himself would be excited at the offer coming at a time he was jobless. He would be wondering what kind of mentality these animals called Nigerians have?

The 61-year old Lars Largerback resigned from his country's national team after he failed to qualify Sweden for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.[/b] As such, he has been jobless until someone in Nigeria decided to play politics by bringing him to coach a not too closely-knit Nigerian team.

Records show that since 1990 when Largerback started work with the Swedish Football Association, he had concentrated in the junior teams. He coached the Swedish team B for two years from 1996 to 1998 before Tommy Soderberg engaged him as assistant national coach. By 2000, he was made joint-coach with Soderberg until 2004.

The high points of his coaching career include qualifying Sweden for Euro 2000 where his team lost in the group encounters. His only experience at the World Cup was in 2002 when he led Sweden to the Japan/South Korea hosting of the World Cup where his team was edged out by Senegal. In 2004, Sweden qualified for Euro 2004; the team reached quarterfinals but was kicked out by the Netherlands.

It should be noted that Soderberg and Largerback jointly achieved whatever successes Sweden recorded during the period. The only time Largerback took Sweden to an international soccer competition was in 2008, when he led Sweden to Euro 2008 where his team performed badly as they were eliminated in the group stage matches. Sweden lost 2-0 to Russia.

It is obvious from the foregoing that during the 20-year coaching career of Largerback, he has not single handedly taken any team to the World Cup. All the while, he had remained mostly at the national and continental level of European football. His stint with the World Cup was only once as a joint-coach with Soderberg. He is certainly not at home with African football, which is a stringent condition any foreign coach for Nigeria must satisfy.