FAM rewards national teams
Football Association of Malawi (FAM) has rewarded the Under-20 and senior national soccer teams for their victories in continental tournaments by trippling their bonuses for the games won.
The Junior Flames will get K50 000 (about $120) each instead of the normal K15 000 for defying the odds to see off DR Congo 2-0 on Friday evening to wing into the final qualifying round of the 2015 Africa Youth Championship on a 3-1 aggregate.
The Flames got K100 000 (about $240) each, instead of the normal K30 000 (about $71) for beating Chad 2-0 in the second preliminary round, first leg of the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations on May 17 in Blantyre.
FAM president Walter Nyamilandu said the gesture is a token of appreciation for a job well done and to motivate the players to give out something extra in the quest to qualify for both tournaments.
“We are overjoyed with the win of Malawi U-20 against DRC. The boys have shown character to win in the away match having drawn 1-1 in the first leg at home. This gives us hope that we can qualify for the Africa Youth Championship to take place in Senegal this year. We are one step away from qualification,” said Nyamilandu.
When they ousted Botswana’s Young Zebras in the first-round, the Junior Flames also got K30 000 each as a token of appreciation.
The Junior Flames’ plan to get it over and done with in the first-half worked out perfectly at Tata Raphael Stadium in Kinshasa where they went into recess with a 2-0 comfortable lead.
Isaac Kaliyati struck the first in the 11th minute. Talisman Chawanangwa Kawonga claimed the second in the 36th minute to put the Junior Flames in the comfort zone.
It was Kawonga’s third competitive goal in this campaign having struck a double in the 2-1 win over Botswana.
He also scored in the friendly match against regional Under-20 Cosafa Youth champions South Africa’s Amajita in a build-up game that the Junior Flames won 1-0 in Soweto, Johannesburg.
In the DR Congo match, such was the Junior Flames’ vintage display that swayed the home fans to switch allegiance and support them after scoring the second goal.
Said coach Ernest Mtawali in a telephone interview: “Prior to the game, we gathered that atmosphere can be hostile for visiting teams in DR Congo and the only way to win their hearts is to play a sweet passing game and put their team under pressure and it worked because no sooner had we scored the second goal than we turned to our pass-and-move game and the hosts could not contain us.”
Mtawali said while qualification appears within sniffing distance, “there is still a mountain to climb.”
The Junior Flames will face winners between Zambia and Mozambique in August this year.
Good riddance but can somebody school here. Where has FAM taken the extra money? Is it the same FAM that perennially runs short of cash? Fam get private companies to do this, other wise this is self choking in the near future. And I hope the benefits will b for the players only nt you who make the decision to tripple ghe peks.