Thrown to the wolves
Tackling tactics, psychology and formations with telling ease, Gerald Phiri Senior analyses his team in a bulky report that reads like a dissertation from a bright undergraduate student.
Theoretically, Phiri has the potential to become the best.
However, Phiri’s lack of experience and silverware in his coaching career has overshadowed his appointment as Malawi National Football Team Coach.
Football Association of Malawi (Fam) unveiled Phiri and his right handman, Derklerk Msakakuona, on Wednesday. Both coaches are, in the domestic football sense, reserved characters who give away nothing.
But even in their silence, before they granted interviews inside the Sydney Chikafa Hall at Fam’s Mpira Village, you could sense that they were overwhelmed by the sight of the press.
They suffered their way in silence as if they were in a courtroom waiting for cross-examination.
“It is a big task,” Phiri said. “In fact, very huge and I am taking this as a challenge and it is not going to be easy. However, I do not want to work under pressure.”
So the 48-year-old, no doubt the youngest coach in the national team’s history, knows that pressure is synonymous with this job.
However, the difference lies in knowing and actually experiencing it.
In the public domain, there is no doubt they will face intense pressure for they have been thrown to the deep end of managing the Flames, its fickle senior players, very demanding fans, press and a ruthless Fam Executive Committee, which believes in hiring and firing.
The appointment of Phiri was, to say the least, a surprise, that once again raised questions on the actual direction which Fam wants to take the Flames to.
Phiri was a top striker for Be Forward Wanderers and the now defunct MDC United.
As Ernest Mtawali’s deputy in Malawi Under-20 National Football Team in 2014, the duo came so mightily close to earning the Junior Flames a place at the 2015 Africa Youth Championship finals.
Phiri won silverware as player for MDC and as an assistant coach at Nyasa Big Bullets.
However, as a stand-alone coach, Phiri is yet to win a trophy having coached teams such as Blackpool, Wanderers and now Azam Tigers.
He also took charge of the Under-23 team that drew 2-2 against a club from China recently.
For Msakakuona, he has the 2011 Carlsberg Cup trophy and Cosafa Under-17 Cup bronze to show off in a career that took off a decade ago.
Msakakuona did not play football at the highest level.
On paper, both coaches are highly qualified boasting Caf A licences.
In short, they are coaches for the future. They should have been given the freedom to learn the coaching ropes behind the scenes with the juniors under less pressure.
Phiri and Msakakuona will, no doubt, judging from their 27-member call up, revive the abandoned Ernest Mtawali rebuilding project.
The call-up of Yamikani Chester, Stanley Sanudi, Isaac Kaliyati, Levison Maganizo, Miracle Gabeya, Rafik Namwera and Brighton Munthali surely represents the continuation of Mtawali’s project.
Unfortunately, Fam, after threatening to withdraw the Flames from continental competitions then u-turning to insist on hiring an expatriate coach, has decided that the future is now.
Minus any guarantee of funding and an assurance of friendlies, does Fam really think Phiri and Msakakuona can steer the Flames to the 2018 African Nations Championship (Chan) and the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) finals?
Fam General Secretary, Alfred Gunda, who, too, was thrown to the tight corner when unveiling the surprise coaches, fell short of being specific.
“Their appointment is about growing our game. We want them to grow with our football,” Gunda said.
However, when asked about the targets for the coaches during their one-year contract, Gunda minced no words that “there are competitions ahead and we need results.”
Now the last part of Gunda’s statement represents the biggest problem that has always derailed the Flames—competing while at the same time rebuilding.
The Fam GS was careful in avoiding to mention the word rebuilding, but, if Phiri and Msakakuona are about growing the game together, the association has development in its mind.
But how do you develop in a year?
Given a choice, Fam would have hired an expatriate but with the government insisting that it does not have funds, the choice of the local coaches appear to be merely heart-hearted.
Phiri and Msakakuona have the potential to become top coaches, but they needed a long-term contract to grow with the team.
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