Joe Sambou,
Thanks for this great piece. Yes Obberman was no success either. Some might want to argue that he spotted talents like "Pele Njago", Amadou Adams and Alagie Sarr, but the fact is we already knew that these brothers were skilful well before Obberman set foot in The Gambia. Joe I was one of your fans and I fully remember that suspension of yours. At that moment I missed your "dashes" and "crosses". This makes me remember Njog Njie(yundo`) and Henry More who were also very known for these runs or dashes.
Lets hope that this romance with these coaches soon fades out. Even if it is supposed to be technical aid, we end up being losers because our financial resources are immensely depleted. So what`s the point? I have more respect for say Kebba Diaz, Kanjura Sillah, A C Conteh, Biri, Sang Ndong, Alagie Sillah, Sam Thorpe, Halla Samba etc as coaches for our national squad than someone who comes from some western abode.
Weah joining Chelsea is sure gonna add some spice to the Chelsea attack. I dont think he is very happy with this transfer, because he was hoping for a move to Roma and Fabio Cappello.Lately he has been at odds with Milan and he has stated that the club has destroyed his football life. I hope though that this transfer does not create problems for the Norwegian striker Tore Andre Flo who has regained his scoring machinery at Chelsea recently, and because of this both Casiraghi and Chris Sutton are being sidelined. I dont know what Vialli has in mind, but with Weah and Flo as twin strikers teams like Arsenel, Man U, Leeds and Sunderland have got to beware.
Coach what do you think?
Regards,
Omar.
-----Opprinnelig melding-----
Fra: Joe Sambou <[log in to unmask]>
Til: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Dato: 11. januar 2000 23:15
Emne: Re: European Coaches in African Football
Omar, I concur with your observation and I’m glad you brought this topic up
for discussion. I have always been a proponent against non-Africans
coaching African national teams and this type of slavery has to stop. This
reminded me when, in 1984 The Gambia brought a no name in German soccer -
Obbermann to coach our national team. To say the least, we lost to Senegal
in the Zone II tournament final. I was suspended indefinitely from
divisional soccer for refusing to play for the junior or senior squads,
subsequently. We performed poorly during the tournament because of poor
management and judgement. You cannot come to a country and within a month
put up a winning squad. Besides, the team that was last in the first
division at the time, Hawks had the most number of players in the squad.
Just as our brothers dominate football in the NFL, Africans can dominate
soccer in the world scene if we get our act together. This is the same
mentality we carry in other fields, and we call them expatriates. Each
African country has many Biri’s, but for us it has to be white for it to be
good. If we efficiently apply the limited resources we’re wasting on these
coaches, on the players, we will see positive results.
Folks, we fought against colonialism because we wanted the right to self-
determination. However, now that we are free to take a walk, we decided
not to unless “masser “ walks with us. We need to stop this madness. Our
own Gambia recently got someone from the outside to run our show. Some may
argue that our own has not produced for us. The fact is we never gave them
a chance and moreover, failure of a few does not suffice to condemn an
entire nation and seek solution from outside.
Thanks for the opportunity.
Joe Sambou
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