Mtawali sacked from Malawi technical panel
Football Association of Malawi (Fam) has announced the removal of Ernest Mtawali as national team assistant coach.
Mtawali was hired alongside head coach Eddingtone Ng’onamo and fellow assistant coach Patrick Mabedi few months ago to complete the task of coaching the team in the ongoing World Cup qualifying games after the association fired the previous panel headed by Kinnah Phiri.
The assistant coach’s departure is said to be part of cost-cutting exercise
Fam president Walter Nyamilandu confirmed that the legendary former Flames midfielder ‘s post was declared surplus to requirements following consultation as the association has financial problems.
“We would have loved to take Ernest on board but we are facing financial constraints,” said Nyamilandu.
Nyamilandu however hope things will turn out positive following the hiring of an expatriate coach Tom Saintfiet who claim to have all the guts to beat Nigeria which happens to be the Flames deciding game if it is to progress to the next phase of the world cup campaign.
Nigeria lead the group on nine points, two ahead of the Flames.
The Fam place hope on Ng’onamo and Mabedi to “give good advice to Tom and learn from him and work hand in hand to ensure that we polish up the mistakes that we noted.”
Meanwhile, Fam plans to unveil the Belgian coach to the Malawian media on Monday.
His first match in charge of the Flames will be the Cosafa quarter-final clash against Zimbabwe on July 13.
