Athletic Madrid star Ngalande eyes Malawi key role
Malawi ‘s teenage Spain-based striker, Robin Ngalande, who is now getting regular game time at Athletic Madrid, wants promotion to a senior team and claim a key role as national team hitman.
“You know how it works here, the senior team practices on the opposite field to us. Sometimes during training sessions they will call one or two reserve players to train with first team. A lot of first team players team also come to train with us, so it’s a win-win situation,” he said.
Ngalande was originally spotted at the 2009 African under-17 championship in Algeria by South African side Mamelodi Sundowns and after performing well for them during a youth tournament held in Madrid, he moved to the Spanish capital in September 2010.
He has been called to train with senior team on some occasions and he said it was a nice experience.
“Training with senior players is competitive. Obviously you get nervous out there, but you learn a lot. The players in the senior team have more experience and the mentality is different
“I’ve learnt a lot in terms of tactical discipline on the field. Recently I’ve been working on my physical conditioning with a view to being stronger on the ball. When I first came here told myself that after two years I would like to see myself in the first team and I’ve been here for less than a year, so the dream is still on,” he said.
Talking about his first senior call up for national duty, Ngalande thanked Malawi coach Kinnah Phiri for putting faith in him.
He however said the future belongs to his generation of players to build Malawi football.
Ngalande believes he is now ready to make the step up.
Kinnah, himself a Malawi legend of note, says there is a lot of maturity in Ngalande, 19, and that he is “very intelligent on the ball.”
The coach said Malawi is “very excited about his future.”
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