While most people favoured Ernest Mtawali and Eddingtone Ng’onamo out of the four coaches that were shortlisted to take over as Malawi national football team’s coach, some quipped that the Flames will just be playing flowerly football but will not be able to score.
But after being chosen as head coach with Burundian Nsazwirimo Ramadhan as the deputy, Ernest has assured the nation he is out to change that notion and the syndrome of ‘we-have-played-well-but-lost’.
That’s quite encouraging — the Flames need to be scoring a lot and as early as possible in order to garner more confidence.
The advantage is that Ernest took over as caretaker coach after Young Chimodzi was fired and he steered the team to a 1-0 win over Uganda during the Independence Day celebration on July 6.
And I believe that after assessing the team’s weaknesses and strengths from preparing the team and during the Uganda match — in which he made some good tactical changes to suit the pattern of the game — Ernest was preparing his next strategy for the Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Swaziland on September 5.
So there is indeed no honeymoon for Ernest and Ramadhan as they also have to plan for the World Cup qualifier against Tanzania in October.
The two coaches are lucky that the teams from which they tap talent from are very active in both the TNM Super League and the Carlsberg Cup, which has reached the hot stages — the semifinals which has Mighty Wanderers, Big Bullets, Silver Strikers and Moyale Barracks.
This is where the players from all four teams will play their lungs out in their quest to win the cup as well as catch the eye of Ernest and Ramadhan while those who are out will display their skills in the TNM Super League.
At his unveiling on Saturday, Ernest said “Football is the only sport where everybody is a coach.” That’s very true — everyone becomes very critical of their teams’ tactics and player choice.
And it becomes even more political in the selection of players from different teams for the national team. Fans prefer certain players from their teams to feature highly because they believe they are at their best form.
We in the media also play our part in trying to inspire the coach who to choose but Ernest and Ramadhan must rise above that and choose players on merit.
We were called Monday Coaches by former coach Kim Splidsboel and we really are because we choose to be very critical after the match but while he can choose to ignore some of the criticism, there are times the media might be right.
We write positively before the match. We try to boost the morale through comments, analyses and selection of glamorous pictures — all to spice up the morale and woo the fans to give their best vocal support for the players.
Let’s work together for the good of the team and we really wish you all the best in your undertakings in the Nations Cup and World Cup qualifiers.
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