Be Forward Wanderers Technical Director, Yasin Osman, has, after a 2-1 loss to Nyasa Big Bullets in the Airtel Top 8 semi-final in Lilongwe on Saturday, insisted that the team’s struggles are normal in football and they will ‘get over them’.
“It shows that you don’t always have to play better to win. We have lost a semi-final we should have won. Peru played better against Denmark on Saturday but lost 1-0. It is the same case with us.
“We played very well but, as is the case in most games, we don’t take our chances. We will keep on fighting. It is not something new in football. We will get over it. Bullets had two or three chances and they scored twice. Credit must also go to their goalkeeper Rabson Chiyenda. He saved them. He had a good game,” Osman said.
It was the second consecutive defeat for Bob Mpinganjira since he took over from Osman as Wanderers Coach, the 1-0 defeat by Red Lions last Sunday being his first test of the challenge ahead.
Exiting the cup they nearly won last year and struggling in the league is obviously piling pressure on Wanderers coaches. But Osman said pressure was synonymous with the coaching profession.
“Coaches always work under pressure. If you can’t stand the heat then get out of the kitchen,” he said.
Wanderers have a quality side comprising top strikers such as Esau Kanyenda, Peter Wadabwa, Khumbo Ng’ambi and Zicco Mkanda but they bowed out of the cup after scoring three goals in three games while netting thrice in six league games.
Mkanda scored the consolation on Saturday after Bright Munthali and Chiukepo Msowoya had put Bullets ahead. Joseph Kamwendo scored twice in 1-0 quarter-final wins over Kamuzu Barracks over two legs.
But Osman refused to fault the players for failing to put away the chances.
“The players who are not scoring are the very same ones we were depending on last season. They are experienced and we just need to encourage them. I am sure we will win one or two cups,” he insisted.
The Nomads are also on a distant 12th place on the TNM Super League log table with eight points from six games, having won, lost and drawn twice each to cast doubt on the prospects of their title defence.
Wanderers Chairperson, Gift Mkandawire, Sunday said they would hold a soul-searching meeting today to find a solution to the team’s failure to score.
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