FAM backs Tom to the core

Despite coach Tom Saintfiet’s failure to achieve his promise to beat Nigeria, Football Association of Malawi (FAM) has said it does not regret its decision to hire him.

FAM president Walter Nyamilandu was reacting to the Flames exit from the 2014 World Cup race following Saturday’s 0-2 loss to Nigeria’s Super Eagles in the fortress Calabar.

Meanwhile, Saintfiet on Saturday formally quit as the Flames interim coach after the Nigeria game.

During his two-month tenure, Saintfiet lost four games to Zimbabwe [3-1 on post-match penalties], Angola [3-2], Botswana [1-0] and Nigeria. He won only one match against Rwanda [1-0].

“I salute Tom for being brave to take up the challenge voluntarily.

“He reorganised the team tactically within a short period and gave Nigeria a good run for its money. Going by past experience, it could have been worse. I have no regrets whatsoever,” said Nyamilandu.

However, the FAM president who promised 2014 World Cup qualification during his ambitious campaign to retain presidency, admitted that his dream came to a heartbreaking end.

“We gave it our best, but we were found wanting against the reigning African champions. We fought a gallant fight, but it wasn’t to be. The odds were always against us when we dropped points against Namibia and Kenya at home,” said Nyamilandu.

The Belgian mentor told a post-match press conference in Calabar that he had an agreement with FAM “till midnight on Saturday”.

“I never was here to win many games. I was here to win one game (on Saturday) against Nigeria and that was the only goal,” Saintfiet told the press as reported by www.supersport.com.

“From Sunday morning, I have no agreement with the federation and that was clear; so, I am a professional coach, and my future? That we will see in the coming weeks, but I am not worried about that.”

However, football commentator Charles Nyirenda and former Flames skipper Peter ‘Mjojo’ Mponda said Saintfiet had failed.

Said Nyirenda: “He promised World Cup qualification on the basis that he knew the Nigerians very well. He could have been right, but what has come out clearly is that he didn’t know his own charges well and, in the end, he has failed to fulfil his promise.

“He won just a single game out of five which is not encouraging and made some costly decisions by dropping experienced players who would have played a vital role,” said Nyirenda.

The former FAM CEO also said going forward, there are local coaches who have the capacity to take the team forward.

“Let us have faith in our own people and not put trust in these volunteers. We have capable coaches who only need to be given the necessary support and training,” said Nyirenda.

Mponda said Saintfiet has not done anything extraordinary that local coaches could not have done.

“I am not saying he is a bad coach, but I did not see anything extraordinary in terms of tactics that could have seen us beat Nigeria as he claimed.

“Of course, the guys did well to contain the Nigerians for the better part of the first half and some may argue that we were reduced to 10 men, but I did not see anything special. In all fairness, he should accept that instead of taking us a step forward, he took us two steps backwards.

“I mean how did we expect to beat a team like Nigeria when we dropped some key players who would have played a vital part?” queried Mponda.

Nyamilandu said FAM executive committee will determine the future of the coaching panel.

The Super Eagles dominated for large parts of a match played on a rain-soaked pitch.

Nigeria took the lead in the last few seconds of the first half thanks to a deft chip from Emmanuel Emenike, the man who finished top scorer at the Africa Cup of Nations this year.

Liverpool’s Victor Moses scored the second for Nigeria from the penalty spot in the 51st minute after Malawi’s James Sangala was adjudged to have brought down Nnamdi Omuadi.

The Flames were reduced to 10 men a few minutes later when Limbikani Mzava was shown a second yellow card for a reckless tackle on Ahmed Musa.