Barking wrong tree on Flames losses
Catcalls for the Football Association of Malawi (FAM) to fire Flames coach Mario Marinica after the Flames’ back-to-back 2-0 and 4-0 losses to Egypt, on Friday last week and Tuesday this week, respectively, are classic cases of barking the wrong tree. While I agree 100 percent that as coach Marinica is a joke, truth is that removing Marinica is not the answer to Flames’ poor performance. The problems rocking the Flames are bigger than Marinica.
Agreed! Marinica has lost three out of the four games in the 2023 TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifiers. Agreed, Malawi, which is anchoring Group D of the qualifiers, after the two losses and with three points, is technically out of the 2023 Afcon qualifiers. With both Egypt and Guinea tied at nine points and only needing a draw each to qualify for the finals, it would take a miracle for the Flames to overturn the tables and topple the two football giants above them. I agree miracles happen. But this miracle only exists on paper. So, Marinica must go. After all, FAM just picked him from the street early last year. He was hired as Flames technical director. That is the job FAM interviewed him for. But somehow, over the months, whatever charms the Romanian touched, FAM went head-over-heels for him. FAM saw a coach in Marinica from head to toe and gave him the job. Of course, at the expense of Meck Mwase. Mwase sued. But that is for discussion on another day.
Fam president Walter Nyamilandu in April 2022 said Marinica was given a target to qualify for Afcon 2023 and the 2022 African Nations Championship. He has flopped on both. But Marinica has rubbished this saying his year-long contract has no such targets. So he is not going anywhere till the end of his contract. Obviously either Nyamilandu or Marinica is lying. But somehow I am inclined to agree with the latter. On a scale of probability, Nyamilandu, who has lied to Malawians 1 001 times and for 18 years and counting, over promises to take the Flames to higher levels, the FAM boss is 99.9 percent more likely to be lying to us than the Romanian. The last time I checked Marinica’s contract, I found out that it only says he will get double one month’s salary if Flames qualify for Afcon and Chan. Not the crap Nyamilandu is trying to make Malawians swallow that the coach’s contract is tied to the two competitions.
Talking about Nyamilandu, he is one of the problems for the Flames lackadaisical performance over the past decade and eight years. The other problem is the Malawi National Council of Sports on behalf of the Malawi Government. The third problem is the FAM affiliates.
The FAM president presides over football development in the country. Three years ago, Nyamilandu even promised to take the Flames to the level of the Spanish top flight soccer club, Barcelona and to the World Cup. Three years down the line, is the Flames anywhere near the Camp Nou outfit? Nyamilandu sits atop the team that selects the Flames coach and other FAM backroom staff. During the past 18 years he has been at the helm of FAM, he had the whole world to choose a coach from. But his best choice last year was Marinica whom he handpicked for the job. No interviews. Nyamilandu settled for this man who has now broken the record for the Flames’ worst result since March 1975. The Flames were in much better hands under Meck Mwase than this gentleman who has no veritable pedigree in professional football coaching. In Information Technology parlance, they say garbage in, garbage out. If Marinica is Nyamilandu’s best choice the world over, then we know who Nyamilandu is. He should be the first to go.
Sports Council is the other culprit. Council regulates sports in the country including football. It therefore has a big say. FAM pays Marinica’s salary from subventions it gets from Fifa—the world football governing body. FAM gets this money on trust and on behalf of Malawians. FAM is, therefore, accountable to Malawians through Sports Council. When things are not going right, Sports Council has powers to put its feet down and change things at FAM.
The last on the list of culprits are the 12 FAM affiliates. These are the kingmakers. They elect the FAM president and all other FAM executive members. For 18 years, the affiliates have not seen anyone better than Nyamilandu to lead Fam. Honestly? Unfortunately, the affiliates are funded by FAM and so need emancipation and deliverance.
Long short, Marinica must go, Nyamilandu must go, Sports Council as the regulator of sports in the country should change things at FAM. FAM affiliates who elect FAM office bearers need deliverance.
