RVG brushes off resignation calls: Belgian coach says Malawi team ‘on right track’
Malawi national team coach Ronny van Geneugden’s (RVG) has played down a sustained push for his resignation, saying he is satisfied with the progress he has made with the Flames.
There have been renewed calls for the Belgian coach to go after a 2-1 loss to lowly-ranked Comoros in a 2019 Africa Cup of Nations’ (Afcon) qualifier in Moroni which virtually ended Malawi’s campaign that yielded nothing.
Some football analysts have asked Football Association of Malawi (FAM) to terminate w RVG’s contract following the Flames’ poor performance and crashing out of the 2019 Afcon qualifiers.
Former footballers Peterkings Kaira and Willie Cham’bwinja also told Times Radio that RVG must go as he has been unable to halt a poor run of results.
“We need new head coach to improve current playing performances and results,” Kaira, a legend in Malawi football said.
Cham’bwinja, a former defender for the Flames, said the national team needs “new direction.”
“We were told RVG was hired to help us qualify for the Afcon finals but he has failed. So he must resign honourably. Why are we still keeping him when results are not improving? This is too much. We cannot wait for his resignation,” Cham’bwinja said,
He said FAM should call an end to RVG’s troubled tenure at the national team.
Football analyst George Kaudza Masina also passed a verdict for the Belgian coach: “He has failed.”
Masina said RVG’s record of winning just two out of 19 games “is a shame” and awful.
But the embattled coach said Flames is moving in the “right direction” and there is need for him to stay on his job.
“We should not have an attitude whereby when we win then everything is good and when we lose then everything is bad. We have to look at the bigger picture,” said RVG.
He said there is a “strong foundation” and “good development programme” in place to build on future success.
FAM president Walter Nyamilandu, who is also a Fifa Council member, has shielded RVG, saying the Flames did not lose to Comoros on Saturday, but a French select side.
Football analyst and former FAM secretary general Charles Nyirenda said Nyamilandu’s outburst is “misplaced.”
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Just resign white dude you don’t know hw to coach
MUCHOSE ACHIKUDA ONSE MULEMBE NZUNGU WINA AZIGWIRA NTCHITO NDI AVG
Namilandu ndi ozungulira mutu. French select side. Simudziwa kuti comores was colonised by France. And ma player ambiri akukhalira ku France chifukwa choti makolo awo akugwila ntchito kumeneko? Koma ndi mbadwa za ku comores. Kupepera bwanji akulu.
For sure we have to look at a bigger picture, leave RVG alone. Let him work and stay on his job. He is doing good job, wining is not a sign that things are ok.
inu muchose china muponda ndiwo amene akuwononga team ya fuko kukakamila ku ndege basi
Malawi is on the right track but in the wrong position.
Let us avoid past mistakes of firing coaches prematurely by simply basing on game results at a time when we are building a team from almost scratch. We need to take a wholistic approach to our football department. We need to pay attention to style of play, youth soccer department and mainly basics of the game at a tender age. The coach should be given the mandate to develop structures in collaboration with existing football structures in the country. Children need to get proper training of basics such as ball control, passing, shooting, and heading at a tender age. If children learn while they are young, we will not be seeing the 80 percent plus inaccurate passes we endure experiencing in our games week in week out. It is a fact that when you watch local games sometimes you wonder whether it is the same kind of game played in other parts of the globe.
Apart from devepment of soccer academies, schools can play a very important role in football and sports development in general in the country. A policy can be put in place that would ensure that all schools, primary and secondary, engage sports teachers with at least a basic knowledge of football and with ability to impart the skiills in the learners. Well structured Schools competitions should be put in place and have to be well coordinated. In such competitions the focus should not just be on results but also how the teams are playing, application of basic skills of the game. The national coach should head the monitoring and advisory team.
My view is that RVG should pay more attention to soccer development in the country especially amongst youth, under 10 to 17 if we are to reap the rewards of our investment in football through his contract.
Those who follow football know that Belgium, just like Malawi had a strong team in the 1970s to 90s. This was followed by serious decline in standards. In our case we resorted to hiring and firing coaches willy nilly and yielded nothing until now while Belgium went to the drawing board, learned from the neighboring Netherlands and other countries about youth soccer development. This has produced handsome results to the point that the tiny country was for two years running rated as the best soccer nation not only in Europe but the entire world. The country is now awash with soccer talent. All this is said not in defence of RVG but as a soccer lover I believe we can maxise our gains from his vast knowledge of the game and his exposure to best practices in football development for betterment of our game in the country.
Let’s not listen to the calls of tidyepo ma allowance nafe as said on radio the other day by the same coaches who were tried and failed. Soccer is a big industry globally and we cannot afford to continue treating it as child play. If well nurtured, it can be a substantial contributor to the economy.
Are we building Rome or what? 19 games 2 wins still building a team; with the outdated bricks of chiukepo calibre what a future team are we building?