Milingo Mvula- Contributor
Covid came and went with its uncertainty and change. Malawi, like England and other parts of the world witnessed the echoes of empty stadiums and the fervent hopes of fans. Some miracles happened too. Liverpool ended their 30 year wait to win the Premier League.
In Malawi, some facts remained stubbornly the same. Mighty Mukuru Wanderers’s wait for the league survived the covid pandemic to get into its seventh year. Yet, their club president refuses to accept this stagnation. He dreams of the heights of success that once defined the European days of Wanderers’ legacy.
Business mogul, Thom Mpinganjira said he wants the team to win at least three trophies in the 2024 season, including the league which has been won five consecutive times by their city rivals, FCB Nyasa Big Bullets.
Appointing Meck Mwase on September 22 this year after taking over from Nsazurwimo Ramadhan demonstrated the club’s trust in the former Malawi National football team coach to deliver the goods to the Lali Lubani road.
Mwase’s confirmation on the role came after a rehearsal of four months, serving as interim coach.
Since commencement of his caretaker duties in May, Mwase was handed his first defeat 49 days later, on July 13 when he went down to Moyale Barracks on home ground at Kamuzu Stadium. The match ended 2-1.
Wanderers could not hesitate but to give him a full contract which obviously excited him.
However, the question was, would Mwase bring the three dreamed trophies to Lali Lubani? “Even two, it is still fine, Wanderers is a big club,” said Mpinganjira in his response.
But that hope is fast fading into darkness. A lot of the supporters are losing faith.
“Tiyeni tonse osapota Mighty Mukuru Wanderers tivomeleze kuti za mpira mulibemo [Let us all wanderers fans accept there’s no football in us],” wrote one die hard fan on Facebook, Blessings Samuel Phumisa on Facebook. He added: “All we have are FDH Bank ATMs.”
Mwase and his Wandering nomads have been booted out of two trophies already. First was the FDH Bank Cup when he lost 2-1 to city and sworn rivals Bullets at Kamuzu Stadium. Now they are out of another cup, Airtel Top 8. For this loss, they travelled all the way from Blantyre to Lilongwe to fall to Silver Strikers in the semi-finals by 1-0 at Bingu National Stadium.
Commenting on a post by Wa Ganyu after they got booted out by the Bankers, one fan wrote, “Galu ndine ndinasankha Noma (I’m the fool for choosing the Nomads.”
Possibly, there are some who still believe in Nomads winning two trophies. And Mwase is amongst them. It’s been two years since Mark Harrison led them to their last trophy, it was Airtel Top 8 beating Bullets on penalties.
Mwase remains with two to fight for; the Castel Challenge Cup and the league. However, winning the league will not be easy. He has to wrestle the championship from Peter Mponda’s Silver Strikers who are at the summit with a comfortable 7 points after 24 games.
“We will go back and talk to our boys to keep fighting, we have Castel and the league. We will work hard,” said Mwase.
Silver Strikers booked their way to the Airtel Top 8 final through a Binwell Katinji goal which was scored just 8 minutes into the first half.
Silver finished the game with 10 men following a red card to defender Nickson Mwase.
