Mario casts net wider

Malawi National Football Team head coach Mario Marinica has said he is monitoring at least 30 players in diaspora with Malawian roots.

His move comes after previous efforts to lure these players to play for the Flames proved futile due to the anti-dual citizenship laws.

However, following legalising of dual citizenship, players in diaspora are eligible to play for the Flames and Marinica said in an interview on Wednesday he would like to assess them.

He said: “I have been monitoring these players for a while now. We have over 30 players who have roots in Malawi.

“We have these players in England, New Zealand, Norway, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Kenya, Zambia, Hungary, Belgium, Sweden, Finland and even Japan.”

Some of these players according to Transfermarkt.com, a database of all international players, are Rayan Hamed Hamidou who plays for Al-Ahli Saudi FC in Saudi Arabia, Kelvin Kalua of Eastern Suburbs in New Zealand and Jeremy Wisten who is at Manchester City Youth.

The others are also Finland-based brothers Albert Msambya (FC Espoo) and Amisi Msambya (Puotinkylän Valtti), Brian Schiavone (St George, Malta), Jamie Lee Micallef (Mgarr United), Yewo Nyirenda (MTK Budapest II, Hungary) and Paul Mbisa Junior who plays for college football in the United States.

While it is the first time for some of these players to be under the Flames coach radar, others such as Henri Kumwenda who plays for Butler Bulldogs in United Kingdom and Kieran Ngwenya who features for Raith Rovers in Scotland have been approached before.

Ngwenya played in an international friendly against Tanzania in preparation for the 2021 African Cup of Nations, only to turn down the next call up.

But Marinica said he is aware of the challenges he faces as he casts the net wider.

He said: “It’s not easy. Firstly, it’s something personal whether a player with duo citizenship wants to play for the Flames or the other country.

“Some of them when I approach them only say: ‘thanks for considering me, let me think about it’ and that’s it.”

Marinica said another challenge is assessment of the players.

He said: “It’s not just about picking any player and letting them play for the Flames. I pick players on merit. I need to assess the players.

“This means they have to either come here or I meet them.  But it is very expensive to fly all of them here at once.

“Unlike other coaches like Morocco’s Walid Regragui, who can camp in Europe and assess every player they want there, we don’t have that luxury.”

Football Association of Malawi (FAM) campaigned for dual citizenship law and its president Walter Nyamilandu said they will support Marinica’s agenda.

He said: “Indeed, the coach has been scouting players of Malawi origin in the diaspora, and we are supporting the agenda of recruiting talented players that will be identified overseas.

“The coach is free to travel to Europe to monitor them so that he can make an informed decision. Otherwise, it will be costly to invite all of them for assessment.”

“They all need to be closely assessed during camp training or competitive matches to determine if they are better than locally based players.”

New Zealand-based Kalua, who was born in Malawi before moving to New Zealand, is willing to play for Malawi, according to his mother Sarai Loveness Gondwe-Kalua.

The Australia-based mother, said her son often expressed the wish to play for his birth country.

Kalua is eligible to play for Flames despite having featured thrice for New Zealand national football team in friendly matches.

In September 2020, Fifa approved a rule change that allows players to switch national teams if they have played no more than three competitive matches at senior level.

But football analyst Charles Nyirenda said the players in diaspora could be discouraged by Malawi’s status on Fifa rankings.

He said: “FAM needs to make playing for the Flames attractive. Most of these players look at our position on Coca Cola Fifa World Rankings and are discouraged.”

Malawi is currently rated 124 on Fifa World Ranking way below most of the countries the 30 players are playing in.