Cautiously happy for Kondie

If your cup of tea is football then Fomboni should ordinarily not be associated with the game; but probably some village name in a tobacco growing Central Region district.

But such is the beauty of football that Fomboni Club de Moheil represent good football news which greeted Malawi this week following Big Bullets’ rebound onto the big stage after being drawn against the giants of Comoros in the 2015 CAF Champions League preliminary round.

I must admit that I had serious doubts when the Bullets chairperson Kondie Msungama last month declared—well before winning the TNM Super League title—they would participate in the Champions League.

In Msungama’s own admission when interviewed by MBC last week, his CAF dream was greeted with scepticism such that some thought he needed paying a courtesy call to Zomba Mental Hospital; a type of hospital, Ibrahim, my taxi friend in Egypt— in his fractured English—used to call Hospital Crazy.

Well, 10 years was too long for anyone to imagine that a Bullets team that was reduced to a sideshow while barely surviving in the Super League could win the domestic championship and eventually rub shoulders with Africa’s best.

Now that the first part of the dream has come true, Msungama and Bullets need massive support for they will represent Malawi in Africa.

However, when you bring into the picture the Flames’ struggles for sponsorship, the critics could be forgiven into earlier dismissing Msungama’s CAF league ambition.

Now Msungama need the critics even more for they keep him on his toes, thereby strengthening his resolve to deliver the goods.

I wish the Bullets the best, but I honestly have no idea how they will manage the exorbitant cost of flying around Africa fulfilling testing fixtures. Only Msungama knows better.

The sceptic in me says, it will be a struggle, but I would not be surprised if the Bullets find their way to fulfil engagements.

My message to Msungama: Now that you have left your critics with egg all over face, deliver the final blow to prove them dead wrong and convert them into your fans. Then, may be, it would be the critics needing help at a nearest Hospital Crazy. For now, well done Kondie!