Football Association of Malawi (Fam) President Walter Nyamilandu has expressed happiness with Malawi National Football Team interim head coach Patrick Mabedi’s performance.
Nyamilandu’s sentiments come in the wake of Malawi qualifying for the Hollywood Bets Cosafa Cup semifinals after 20 years.
The Fam boss congratulated Mabedi and his technical stuff for a bright start to the Cosafa tournament, which is taking place in Durban, South Africa.
“The technical panel, headed by Mabedi, and the players have all performed very well. The turnaround of performance is largely due to the change of guard that has brought in a new philosophy and a new mentality to the team. Mabedi has done an excellent job to build a new team that is competitive and hungry for success. He was bold enough to make a decision to take a youthful team to the tournament.
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“The team has gone there not just for exposure but to prove a point. The best thing he has done is to make the team play with freedom and confidence. He has also assembled a team that is very united and disciplined on and off the pitch,” Nyamilandu said.
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The Flames have impressed at the tournament with an impressive five goals in just three matches and are yet to concede.
This has prompted a cross-section of football lovers in the country to ask Fam to give Mabedi the job on a permanent basis.
But Nyamilandu said they will review the coach’s contract when it expires in September.
“Mabedi was appointed as an interim head coach of the Flames until September 2023 and his contract will be reviewed thereafter,” he said.
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Former Flames attacking midfielder Peterkins Kayira said while it is true that Mabedi’s team has performed well in South Africa, there is a need to exercise patience in deciding the next step.
“If Fam is to give the coach and his support staff permanent deals, then they must not be given targets. Decisions made in the heat of excitement can end up backfiring. Mabedi and his team are indeed performing well but this is only a developmental tournament where teams do not send their best squads. Let us therefore wait and see what happens next. In an ideal situation, the coach should be engaged on a long-term contract, say five years, for him to properly develop the team.
“We did the same with Meck Mwase who equally did well with the Under-20 team. He was then promoted him to the senior team and given the target of qualifying for the Afcon [Africa Cup of Nations] finals and other targets. He managed to achieve the target but later got fired. So let us engage Mabedi on a long term contract if we are to see the best out of him. But do not judge him on what he achieves at the Cosafa tournament,” Kayira said.
Mabedi is yet to lose after taking over from Mario Marinica, whose contract was not renewed in April due to the Flames’ unsatisfactory performance.
