When firepower deserts Flames

If you were Malawi national football coach Kinnah Phiri and your Flames have gone eight consecutive games (720 minutes) without a win against lightweights , what would you do?

What would you do if you then, in five days’ time, have to play a giant Nigeria in a World Cup qualifier?

The Flames’ 0-0 draw in Kenya on Saturday—their fourth back-to-back in eight ‘winless’ games of all competitions—speaks volumes of the huge task at hand for Kinnah ahead of Saturday’s match against the Super Eagles.

As a former great striker, Kinnah should have the solution. But it appears, he too, has none.

“I can only improve on what they have. Strikers are born. I cannot make strikers,” the coach insisted last year in October after a 2-2 draw in Chad shattered a dream for a place at the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.

Going back further to the last 10 games of all competitions since last October, Flames have won once, (ironically 2-0 against Kenya at the Cecafa Senior Challenge Cup in Tanzania), lost two, drawn seven, scored 10 goals and let in 10. If it were in a business venture, you could say that is just breaking even.

In those 10 games, players with some semblance of being called leading scorers are, in fact, midfielders Frank Banda, Joseph Kamwendo and striker Atusaye Nyondo. This translates to one goal in every five games for each.

What the statistics are not saying is that all the opponents Malawi has played with are lowly rated on Fifa rankings, thereby causing the continued nose-dive for Malawi. Flames are, as of this month, ranked 102.

The goal drought

The Flames’ goal drought could be linked to the time Chiukepo Msowoya’s form dipped in the terraces of Orlando Pirates before being shipped out on loan to Platinum Stars.

With seven goals all season, Nyondo is the only Flames player worth being called a top striker. Chiukepo finished the season with just a goal. Russell Mwafulirwa last scored for the Flames in 2010 and last played club football in 2011. Esau Kanyenda, one of the Flames’ regulars, save for the recent encounter against Kenya, has just signed for a Danish team after a year on the sidelines.

Football analyst Felix Ngamanya Sapao is not surprised with the goals drought, saying: “We lack the finishing edge because most of our strikers lack game time.”

None of the top three strikers for the Super League are able to win a place in Kinnah’s final squad. Last season’s leading scorer Ishmael Thindwa is a mere member of the Flames training sessions.

“Watching him [Thindwa] in Flames training, there are some players who question whether this is really the Thindwa who scored 18 goals last season. He is not up to scratch,” a source confided in SportsXtra.

Whatever the judgment on Thindwa is, the fact remains that save for one game against Tanzania at the last Cecafa Cup, he has never been given enough chance to play for 90 minutes and fail.

Flames’ problem also appears to be lack of faith in other strikers, ‘misplacement’ of some of the available ones and inability to create more chances. When you struggle for goals you need players who can win you a game with a single touch.

Winger Henry Kabichi has two goals (both from free kicks) in four Flames games and he was dropped from the travelling squad. Kabichi might not meet the physical demands that Kinnah demands in his players, but you win a direct free kick with Kabichi on the field of play, you are almost guaranteed a goal.

Reports in Vietnam indicate that Victor Nyirenda is among the second division’s leading scorers. Luka Milanzi is a natural scorer, but he is lost to TP Mazembe in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It appears Kinnah is not interested in following up on him.

In three of the 10 games, the Flames have let in a goal, usually at death, after going in front. In such a case, simplistic conclusion would be piling the blame on defenders. But in football, when you cannot score, the team, especially defenders, get frustrated.

Coincidently, it is around the same time that Kinnah has featured in most games, a safety first 4-5-1 formation. Nyondo has only played as an out and out striker in the last few games. Robin Ngalande is also featured wide.

By the way, Nigeria are on their way to Malawi. It will be tougher, warned veteran coach Yasin Osman: “With this result [against Kenya], it will make it more difficult to beat Nigeria who are far stronger than Kenya.”

Few can remember the last decade Malawi beat Nigeria, let alone drew. The Super Eagles last beat Malawi at home 1-0 in 2003 at Kamuzu Stadium. Let us just pray.