I won’t resign, says Malawi coach Kinnah Phiri
Malawi national team coach Kinnha Phiri has said that he had no intention of resigning his job after his squad failed to qualify for next year’s African Nations Cup finals when they went down 0-1 to Ghana in Lilongwe on Saturday.
The 1-0 defeat followed a 2-0 home loss in last month’s first leg.
The Malawi coach was even goaded by the Malawian fans towards the end of the game when started chanting that he must go.
But the coach insists he will not resign despite Malawi’s abject failure to qualify for next Nations Cup finals in South Africa from January 19 to February 10.
“I am not resigning, why should you ask me to resign? Are you a Malawian,” fumed Kinnah to a Ghanaian television journalist, who had asked him if he was going to resign, having promised earlier on that his Flames would beat Ghana 3-0.
“If you are not a Malawian, why are you asking me to resign? …I’m not resigning,” insisted Kinnah amid rising tempers.
When Nyasa Times asked him later if he would resign, Kinnah said: “No. I have no intention of doing that.
He said he feels exactly the same -as the fans: “Believe you me, I know how they are feeling. We are so disappointed to have let so many people down.”
Kinnah said he will continue with his plans of building a new team and has since appealed to all Malawians to give him full support.
He claimed he could understand some of the frustration of supporters burnt condemned some sections of the fans who hurled insults at him.
“The tendency of Malawian supporters is not good, it’s like people came already planned that they should chant-abusive songs-against the coach.” said Kinnah.
“Let us give each other support and if there is any problem let us help each other in a good manner.” he said.
‘We suffered very early in the game. We then had the control of possession but couldn’t create enough chances,” he said of the Lilongwe debacle.
Kinnah recently signed a contract extension that will keep him as tactician of the Flames until 2014.
His assistants Young Chimodzi and technical adviser Jack Chamangwana also signed their new two-year deals on Monday.
