Not convinced’ – Mixed reaction to coach Mtawali as Malawi blows K200mil for AFCON

Following the Malawi national football team exit at the Cosafa Castle Cup tournament in Windhoek, Namibia, several people have expressed their disappointment with the team’s recent performance both in Coasaf  and Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers claiming coach Ernest Mtawali and his entire backroom staff are to blame for the team’s poor showing.

Speaking to Nyasa Times, one fan said the Flames are inconsistent and exiting the Cosafa at such an early stage is a true reflection of that factor.

“We have a very poor record in must win games and the loss to Lesotho is such a good example of that. We played against  a youthful Angolan side before facing a resilient Mauritius side two days later. From the two games, one could tell that our team lacks consistency because I felt we should have punished Mauritius with more goals to prove our wealthy.

“What happened against Lesotho was the continuation of the poor showing from our previous game. There were some players like Chiukepo Msowoya who didn’t deserve to be in the starting eleven basing on his poor performance in the two games  but that wasn’t the case. I believe Coach Mtawali and his technical panel had their own understanding o the game but I felt the fielding was somehow amateur like ,” said one of the concerned fan Alfred Kachimanga.

Another fan said Malawi should start thinking about building a better team rather than putting the hype on old guards who have passed their playing time .

He said it is unfortunate that Mtawali was given the nod to lead the team without experience which he said has been his major challenge.

“He (Mtawali ) has never coached a competitive club and doesn’t have the qualities of becoming a good coach. Look at the way the team has been performing in AFCON qualifiers. Within a short period of time, we have used over 30 players which shows lack of direction for our team and it’s a clear indicator of failure on Mtawali part and his backroom staff. We need to sharpen our pangas so that we get rid of them once they return,” said a furious fan.

Meanwhile, reports which Nyasa Times have established shows that the Football Association of Malawi is yet to make a decision on Mtawali’s future.

But speaking to Nyasa Times on conditions of anonymity, one of Mtawali’s close pal said  t the coach was given targets by his employers following the Flames poor showing in AFCON  qualifiers.

Football Association of Malawi  (FAM) has since blown K200 million for the Afcon campaign.

According to  FAM  administrative manager Christopher Mdolo, the Flames will drain about K30 million for the remaining academic fixture against Swaziland.

FAM was allocated K32 million by Malawi National Council of Sport in the budget, they received K50 million from Carlsberg Malawi and K44 million from Prophet Shepherd Bushiri.