By Burnett Munthali
The presidential election for Football Association of Malawi (FAM) has been an issue of high interest but is finally over and a new President has been hired to do what he promised he could do better than his predecessor while Walter Nyamilandu has lost. A new era is here but the big question now is: What next after this election?
Many people accused Walter Nyamilandu of long stay and that his administration contributed to poor standards and performance of football in the country. Others say he has left the stage when the standards in football are high. At least Malawi can play like Barcelona.
On Saturday 16 December 2023, Nyamilandu lost the election and I had an opportunity of asking someone why he was celebrating. He explained to me that he was happy because Walter is finally out of office after serving for nearly nineteen years and that someone else had to taken over. My next question was: “What do you expect from the new FAM President Fleetwood Haiya who has been newly ushered into office?”. He was lost of a clear answer to this question. Another man came celebrating where I was sitting but could not answer what he expected from the new FAM President. Honestly, I equally cannot connect between the office of the FAM President and poor performance of the Malawi National Football team. Perhaps I will understand the connection in future.
For a very long time, I have observed that Malawian Football is failing to grow to a level we would consider competitive football. Time and again I have listened to different views from different people regarding challenges in football. Many of the accusations were levelled against the FAM President but whenever I ask for clarification on the connection between FAM and the under performance of the Malawi national soccer team, I do not get a convincing answer.
The team has been failing to win several games for several years. Each time there’s a competition, Malawi gets beaten easily and supporters have been denied the opportunity to celebrate victory for quite long.
In my own opinion, Malawian Football has a number of challenges some of which include lack of grassroot football, endurance, ball possession, scoring skills, maintaining the game, reading the game, concentration and of course financial support. I feel football players could be the lowest paid on the planet such that they retire very poor just like church mice. I just feel sorry for them.
The other thing I have noticed is that government is not doing enough to finance football in the country. There’s always a meagre amount of money from government which I feel does not suffice the welfare of players and soccer development.
The private sector is also stingy to come in and support football. You don’t need to be a sponsor in order to help. Even when the team is supported by government and other companies, many companies need to come forward on their own and give their financial and material support. Football is a huge investment and responsibility so we all need to come in and help time and again.
Possible Solutions
Grassroot football needs to be developed. Our schools and colleges must train students in the game of football from a young age and on a routine basis whether they have games or not, whether there are tournaments or not. We also need routine training and frequent friendly games between institutions or even within teams of the same schools and colleges.
The young players must be trained to ensure in the game of football. Presently, of soccer players get exhausted easily in the first of playing, that should not be the case at all. They must learn to play upto the last whistle without developing or showing any fatigue.
From a very young age, players must learn to ball possession as long as possible when chances of scoring are slim. Even after they have scored and are comfortably leading, ball possession is one of the techniques that helps distract the opponent team from scoring or equalizing.
Football is about scoring and nothing more or less than that. If you can double and fail to score then you are doing nothing in a game of football. We need to develop players who can score even from very difficult ankles p angles.
Our young players must be trained in various ways how to shoot and score. Scoring doesn’t happen by chance, it’s done by precision.
Our football players need to maintain the game especially when we meet very difficult teams. When you cannot break through their defence, you simply have to defend and maintain your lead, draw or even your trail. We shouldn’t allow teams to massacre us anymore as they wish, that is disaster in our team.
The young players must read the game and approach it as it comes. It’s very important for players to read the game if they really want to play well and win as they come with their own playing style.
The game if football needs full and high concentration when playing. On many occasions, I have seen our players lose concentration in the game. This comes due to pressure, lack of confidence and coordination in the game.
In conclusion, let’s carefully wait and see as the new president has taken office and avoid celebrating beyond measures. Otherwise, I personally do not expect any improvement in football just because we have a new FAM President unless we address the challenges that are there. Malawian football will improve only after all systems are addressed very carefully and we need time to do that.
