Wa Ganyu

Pasuwa broke silence on arrival from a dismal COSAFA campaign, claiming he is in charge of the Malawi Men’s Football Team, the Flames. Since he was reported sick the past month, Pasuwa has been quiet, and instead, it was his assistant Peter Mponda who took centre stage, granting media interviews and providing team updates.

However, the Zimbabwean tactician says he was in charge from day one till the end of Malawi’s embarrassing show at the tournament. He stated that he provided notes to the technical panel, following orders from doctors who advised him against standing up for longer periods.

On Thursday afternoon, Pasuwa spoke to the media clarifying a number of issues plus the progress of the team.

On claims of favouring Bullets players

As coaches, we are very professional and we are trying to build a team for the 2027 Afcon qualifiers. Also, one area which we need to know when building a team, we look at age, where you might get instant results, but at times you need young stars when building a future team.

We dropped others like Alick Lungu and Lloyd Aaron, we took players like Emmanuel Nyirenda, Blessings Mpokera, Blessings Singini, because we wanted to see new players. We have players in their positions so we wanted to see other players who can be used.

Yes, I am wearing the face of a former Bullets coach, but I came here as a coach and I am very professional enough. One thing that will make a team is to have a combination, and that can take 3-4 days and for that to be done, one thing you need to know, Bullets have been playing in the champions league and in the champions league we have seen that kind of football. Also, I have seen this in Malawi where most of the players that have done well are bought by Wanderers or Bullets, and those players are good tactically.

On failing to score in all three games

Yes, we went to compete and we couldn’t score, as you know, scoring is the art, you need to work on it, and the boys could not respond well, you see on transition. We will work on it, we saw the positives and we are working on the negatives.

It needs a coach to do it; I am the one who is supposed to coach those players to run into space, they cannot do that on their own. It’s different from what we do at our clubs where we play one route football.

Players who stood out

First, we have been conceding goals, we are being scored either from restart or second balls and we have some minutes we need to be very careful when playing football. The first ten minutes of the game, last ten minutes of the first half, first ten minutes of the start of the second half, and last 10 minutes of the second half. These are moments we need to be careful and we need to work on them. It’s us who need to teach them. Remember we are playing football at the highest level and any mistake you’re punished.

Of the players who stood out, we had problems with Gaddie Chirwa tactically, he is a good player but when we were playing, technically, he struggled. Maybe he could run anyhow. Playing at the national team, you play according to what the coaches have told you otherwise you will be punished.

Also, Emmanuel Nyirenda, a surprise! A guy who stood tall, he did very well as our left centre back.

Blessings Mpokera, when we were playing the ball he responded very well.

Blessings Singini, playing side by side with Yankho Singo, did as if they have been playing for a long time.

Chawanangwa Gumbo, he played well in our spaces, most of the time you see him at his position.

Chikumbutso Salima, I played him again, we tried to teach him in unfamiliar positions. Most of the time he was playing as a winger and in this time he played in half spaces and he did well.

Promise Kamwendo, though he didn’t score but he did very well, we need now to teach him the movements to create space.

Wisdom Mpinganjira, another player who did well. I called him though he is one of our regulars just to introduce him to another position.  

If he is impressed with the Cosafa outcome?

We went to compete, but we could not win, not even scoring a goal. We tried to build a team, those are the positives I have. Some coaches were asking me how many of my players are playing in Europe and I told them they are all playing in our local league. That is the positive, but the bad part was that we failed to score a goal.

Was he in charge of the team?

I was in charge of the team, it’s only maybe you were not seeing me on the touchline but we were working hand in hand. I was seated on the bench; remember I went for a check-up where I was told not to stand for up to 10 minutes, that’s the situation until now.

Any Lessons learnt?

When playing against teams with structure, those teams were giving us problems because we need to know the positions of players and structure of players. We need to use that at the national team. The way we have been conceding. The Lesotho game, where we had no shot on target, we were pushed at the wing and failed to break the centre.

Are we ready for Afcon 2027 qualification?

There’s time. We are still learning and getting prepared and watching our professionals to see how football is being played outside.