Flames seek panel beef up

The Flames coaching panel has resolved to ask Football Association of Malawi (FAM) to recruit a psychologist, nutritionist and physical fitness trainer in a bid to improve the players’ performance.

Assistant coach Gerald Phiri said this in an interview on Tuesday in Lilongwe as the Flames stepped up preparations for the second leg of the Championship of Africa Nations (Chan) preliminary round return leg against Madagascar scheduled for this Saturday.

He said the new head coach Ronny van Geneugden has noted that the players do not follow proper diet rules and lack specialised physical training.

“In our discussion we thought that it will be important to engage a nutritionist and physical trainer who would pay attention to the players’ fitness and see what training each player requires,’ Phiri said.

He said the nutritionist will also be working with clubs so that Super League players also follow healthy diet.

“Poor diet is a general problem in our local game. Since our players come from these clubs, it is important that we work with the clubs to promote healthy diet,” he said.

A psychologist, the assistant coach said, will help the players to be mentally strong.

“The problems of conceding goals in the dying minutes has been haunting us for a long time. Such problems, we think, are to do with weak mentality. These are the things a psychologist can improve on,” he said.

Phiri said they will submit the recommendations to FAM after the Madagascar game.

Responding to the proposal, FAM general secretary Alfred Gunda said they will assess the recommendations first before making a decision.

“The idea sounds good, but we have to see the proposal first and then we see the way forward,” he said.

Gunda hinted though that the most workable route is to hire the proposed personnel on part-time basis. n