Ronny van Geneugden Saturday entered the Football Association of Malawi (Fam) boardroom with a smile playing across his lips before shaking the hand of every journalist present while saying \u201cwelcome.\u201d<\/p>\n
Having charmed his way into the room alongside his agent, Carlo Antonio Cabrera, the inevitable happened\u2014Fam handed the Belgian the Malawi National Football Team coaching job on a two-year contract.<\/p>\n
Before sealing the deal at Mpira Village, Fam President, Walter Nyamilandu, answered all the questions and waxed lyrical about the 48-year Belgian whose selection criteria (hand-picked) and profile (has never coached a national team) had sparked debate.<\/p>\n
In short, the sweet-talking Nyamilandu assured Malawians that Fifa will sponsor the coach\u2019s salary alongside FDH Bank. Additionally, the world football governing body will also fund travel and accommodation expenses for the Flames in the African Nations Championship (Chan) qualifiers.<\/p>\n
As expected, Nyamilandu said van Geneugden, who was dressed in a black slim fit suit, was highly qualified with a Uefa Professional Licence and demonstrated tactical astuteness, is willing to work with meagre resources while focusing on youth development and installing a distinct football philosophy for Malawi.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has vast experience coaching youth teams and top clubs in Belgium. That experience would be helpful because a national team is like a club. What also impressed us was that he was able to demonstrate (through youtube) his tactical ability, which is what the Flames have been lacking,\u201d said Nyamilandu who was accompanied by Fam Executive Committee members, Daud Suleman, Jabbar Alide and General Secretary, Alfred Gunda.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat also impressed us was his willingness to work [with] meagre resources. Not<\/p>\n
every coach, who applied, was willing to accept such a range of a salary. He was the right kind of person who was willing to come and adapt. To get Ronny below a market-related salary was a bargain. His salary remains confidential but it is in our records and will be audited.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Fam chief then said there were short and long-term targets for the coach, starting with Chan qualifiers on April 22 and 28 away and at home against Madagascar, then the race to the Africa Cup of Nations finals.<\/p>\n
Taking his turn, the former Genk coach did not waste his time in preaching togetherness, saying he was determined to leave a stamp on the psyche of Malawi football by looking at results and developing youth football.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to create a style of football, not only for the first team but also for youth teams. When results are not positive, at least, you should be able to see that \u2018aah that is the style of play for Malawi\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cI cannot do this alone, but together we need to create chemistry between the players on the pitch and the fans watching. From now, it is not about \u2018I will do this, but we will do this\u2019. I always say that \u2018try to shoot to the moon even when you miss the moon, you will still land on the stars\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Surely, the take off to the moon is always smooth for every Flames\u2019 coach, but Van Geneugden will be judged by how he will land after the two years.<\/p>\n
Van Geneudgen went straight to business alongside his assistants Gerald Phiri Senior and Deklerk Msakakuona, who are on a year-long contract with the government whereas the Belgian is a Fam employee.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ronny van Geneugden Saturday entered the Football Association of Malawi (Fam) boardroom with a smile playing across his lips before shaking the hand of every journalist present while saying \u201cwelcome.\u201d Having charmed his way into the room alongside his agent, Carlo Antonio Cabrera, the inevitable happened\u2014Fam handed the Belgian the Malawi National Football Team coaching […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":44110,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44108"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44108\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44182,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44108\/revisions\/44182"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}