Mario gets a year
This is it. Football Association of Malawi (FAM) and Flames coach Mario Marinica have agreed on a one-year deal.
However, FAM president Walter Nyamilandu said in an interview on Friday that the two parties are yet to put pen to paper.
The FAM boss also said the local football governing body has set 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) and 2022 African Nations Championship (Chan) qualification as the targets for the Romanian tactician.
He said: “The negotiations are done and dusted. What remains is just to put pen to paper, otherwise we are done with the negotiations.
“In principle, we have agreed on a one-year contract.”
On whether the duration is enough for the 58-year-old to implement his plans, Nyamilandu said: “We are linking it to his performance in Afcon, Chan and Cosafa.”
On why they have not raised the bar on Afcon, having qualified for the knockout stage in the previous edition, the FAM president said they do not want to put the coach under pressure.
He said: “Qualification for Afcon is a must. Our target is to retain the Afcon glory. We cannot afford to miss the opportunity.
“Memories are still fresh of how we excelled at the previous Afcon finals in Cameroon and if we emulate the success it will be fantastic.
“But first things first. Let’s dream of qualifying first because we do not know which teams we will be paired against and the dynamics can be different. So, we can’t dream of going through the round of 16 before we have qualified.”
On Chan qualification, Nyamilandu said having failed to qualify for the six previous attempts, the Flames must embrace it as a challenge to defy the odds and sail through.
“Of course, it depends on the depth and quality of local players which has been exposed for a long time, but we are hoping to turn it around with Mario’s philosophy,” he said.
In an interview on Friday on his expectations, Marinica said: “I have no expectations as unmet expectations lead to bitter disappointments. You also do not get the joy of an achievement as you just expected that to happen.”
The Flames gaffer was initially hired as technical director, but FAM executive committee hired him as Flames coach on a permanent basis having been impressed with his performance when he took charge of the team on a temporary basis at the delayed 2021 Afcon finals in Cameroon where he guided it to its first-ever knockout stage qualification.
Marinica’s first assignment as a permanent coach of the Flames will be tomorrow’s Afcon qualifier against Ethiopia’s Walyas at the Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe.
Commenting on tomorrow’s match, the coach said: “I like to take one game at a time. So, now our immediate target is to get aminimum of 10 shots at goal from which a minimum six should be on target.
“Further more, we will keep our approach on working hard, being very determined and going at every game with the intention of winning it.”
But football analyst Kelvin Moyo said one year is too short for any national coach to build a formidable side.
He said: “The national team normally plays a few games in a year. Two to three years is a standard period for a national team coach and it must be performance-based so that when he does not perform to the expected standards, he can be relieved of his duties.”
