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March 2007

Well what a couple of months I have had as I said in last months edition I have been appointed National Team Coach of Malawi and I arrived in Blantyre Malawi where the FA is based on the 6th of March. I was welcomed by the President of the Football Association Mr WALTER NYAMILANDU-MANDA upon arrival and was then taken to the hotel. In fact I ended up in the same room as I was when I had the interview in January. A press conference was set for the following morning and I was to attend a training session in the afternoon and be introduced to the U23 squad who had just started training for the second leg of the Olympic qualifiers. It had been decided that I would take over for the second leg which was on March the 24th.

I will say that the conditions here are extremely difficult more so then in India and Nepal and it is going to be my toughest job to date. I won’t dwell on the problems but let’s just say there are plenty of them. Many of the national associations are funded by the local governments in Africa and so things that could take a few hours can take a few days and naturally this can be very frustrating as I am quickly finding out. I have already had the pleasure of meeting the Sports Minister of Malawi himself Mr Mussa as the Malawi government has pledged its support to FAM and to me and I look forward to working with everyone concerned.

Despite the difficult circumstances the players attitude in my short time has been excellent and I am reminded constantly of the players I had the pleasure of working with in India and Nepal. I took my first training session on the 8th of March in the Kamuzu Stadium which holds about 60,000 where the game against Zambia will be played. Looking at the players up close they have a great passion for the game and a willingness to learn which as I have said many times is not something you always find in Europe, in many ways I think there is too much coaching in Europe and we don’t always allow the young players to just play.

The people of Malawi have been very welcoming and they are very passionate about there football in fact every time I step out its hello coach welcome to Malawi which naturally makes you feel welcome, hopefully they still saying the same thing a year or so down the line!
The game against Zambia was a good opportunity to see the boys in a competitive game and of course get an idea as to what we have coming up below the senior side. We had worked on keeping things tight closing down and as the boys were coming from the close season there fitness levels too. I know two weeks is not very long but that was all the time we had.
We started really well and though we had plenty of possession we were not really hurting the Zambians and when we did get into positions where we could cause a few problems that last pass was missing. We gave a sloppy goal away from a corner which is disappointing as its something we had worked on and then the first decent ball we play into there penalty box we scored. The half ended 1-1 and while we did press for the winner it didn’t come and the game finished all square. A disappointment in that we did not do enough to go into the next stage of the African Olympic qualifiers but a decent result never the less.

There is of course a great deal of work to do here and of course it will not be easy. The next few games will be at senior level and big tests for us as we face South Africa along with there new Manager Carlos Alberto Pereira in the COSFA Cup and I look forward to pitting my wits against one of the best coaches in the business. We are also trying to arrange a couple of warm up games as well and then the two big games in the African Cup of Nations against Morocco and Zimbabwe. So some really good games to be involved in and I am really looking forward to them. To all the Malawi fans who have written in with there support and best wishes you very much and all the best.