Flames lack football philosophy—Kim

The Flames can hardly succeed in competitions unless the country develops a standard football philosophy for coaches to follow, former national team coach Kim Splidsboel has said.

The Dane was reacting to a questionnaire on the Flames’ form, including their recent engagements that saw the team winning the Confederation of Southern African Football Associations (Cosafa) Plate with a 1-0 win over Zambia in South Africa before losing 1-2 to a fatigued Zimbabwe Warriors side during the 2017 African Cup of Nations qualifier at the Kamuzu Stadium.

According to Splidsboel, who was one of the Flames’ successful expatriate coaches having led the team to Cosafa Cup finals for the first time in 2002, the national team cannot sustain successive wins if every technical panel comes in with own style of play.

“FAM (Football Association of Malawi) should work together with soccer experts to develop a DNA that every coach should follow in terms of style of play, role of players, how to develop such players, scouting and coaching development.

“In Denmark, for example, we introduced a DNA, which requires us to control the game, play a passing game, play with a 4-2-3-1 system and have players with high technical skills. Since then, the team’s performance improved tremendously and whenever a technical staff is deployed, that philosophy is strictly followed,” said Splidsboel, whose national team is 29th on Fifa rankings.

He added that when he coached the Flames, he followed such a philosophy and it did not disappoint him as he won seven of the 10 competitive matches.

However, he said that for the philosophy to produce meaningful results, the country needs a long term youth development plan, have more football facilities and invest a lot in soccer.

“To develop quality players, you need to start with the youth, look at facilities and money to invest. Each Super League team should have an obligation to have a youth team and each club must send budget to FAM every year for financial security, youth development and payment of senior players.

“Moreover, the license to play in the Super League should be approved by FAM. In few years, we can see the results of such investments,” he said.

FAM technical director John Kaputa admitted that the national team was indeed running without a standard football philosophy but now they have come back to their senses to restructure the system with modern football techniques.

“What a coincidence, Andy Dell [who was recently deployed by FAM as technical consultant] was also telling me about the same thing and we have decided to organise a day-long workshop with Super League of Malawi (Sulom) and local coaches so that we should follow such modern football techniques. We have planned to do this at the end of the TNM Super League’s first round,” Kaputa said.

FAM technical sub-committee conducted a similar meeting with all national soccer team coaches about six months ago but what they agreed remains unimplemented.

Flames caretaker coach, Enerst Mtawali also seemed to agree with Splidsboel on the need to polish up the country’s football system. However, he refused to dwell much on Splidsboel’s advice saying such guidance can be well commented by FAM.

Mtawali said: “we really need such a system in the country. If you noted, we are very good on ball possession but the end product is not satisfactory, especially when playing at home. We need to dictate the tempo of the game and penetrate more to win games. And to achieve that, we need to have a standard skeleton, on which we can build our style of play.”

Veteran Flames’ winger Fischer Kondowe, who was part of Splidsboel’s squad, said apart from developing the football philosophy as a foundation for Malawi football, national team coaches should as well learn not to rush blossoming talent into the national team’s first line-up.

“During Splidsboel’s time, new talent could be called up to the national team just to observe and learn some tricks for weeks. When he dropped you from the squad, he could always humbly tell you the reasons before recalling you for serious business. Then, he could not succumb to pressure from the fans on which players to feature during a match,” said the Big Bullets captain, who has been earning Flames call ups since 1999.

Nevertheless, former Flames captain Peter Mponda seems to have a different view as he attributed the national team’s shoddy performance to the interference of football authorities on technical issues.

“Most local coaches do not get the Flames job on merit but due to their assured submission to authorities in terms of squad selection. If we had coaches that stand their grounds and trust in their abilities, even in toughest situations, we could have been producing results. In spite of that, the responsibility of winning mostly lies in the players, whose dependability can be put at 65 percent,” Mponda said.

FAST FACTS

• Splidsboel raised the Flames from the doldrums into top 100 on Fifa rankings in 2002.
• He catapulted the Flames to Cosafa Castle Cup finals for the first time in 2002.
• During his reign between 2001 and 2002, the team won seven games, including against Angola twice, South Africa once and Zambia once. He managed a single draw and two losses.
• His departure was as a result of Malawi’s economic hardships as government and FAM could not afford to pay his salary at the expiry of his initial contract.
• Carlsberg offered to fulfill his two-year contractual needs in return for excise duty exemption on beer for four months but government refused.