‘Football players in Malawi lack physical fitness’

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James Mwenda
James Mwenda
James Mwenda argues Malawian players need fitness.

Football Association of Malawi (FAM) Vice President James Mwenda says Malawian players lacks physical toughness which has greatly affected the performance of the Malawi National Football Team in various competitions.

Speaking during the closing ceremony of a five-day FIFA Physical Fitness training at Mpira Village in Chiwembe on Friday afternoon, Mwenda said Malawi concedes goals in the first minutes or the last minutes simply because players fail to withstand pressure exerted by the opponents.

“If Malawi fails to concede goals in the opening minutes, expect the team to concede in the dying minutes of the match. This is due to lack of physical toughness because our players cannot withstand pressure exerted by the opponents during the play.”

“This is simply because our crop of players are not physically fit as compared to our fellow countries.”

“This is the reason why FAM asked FIFA to have this course in Malawi as one way of equipping our physical trainers with new knowledge on how best they can play their role within their clubs because if the players from the clubs are weak, expect Flames to be affected too,” he said.

FIFA Physical Fitness participants
FIFA Physical Fitness participants pose for a group photograph at the closure of the training.

During the course, Scottish FIFA based Physical Fitness trainer Frank Nauttell gave coaches knowledge on how to develop the beautiful game of football by improving their techniques inside the field of play.

Oscar Kaunda, Eliya Kananji, Mabvuto Lungu, Peter Mponda, Milias Pofera, Travor Kajawa, James Sangala and Aubrey Nankhuni are some of the notable faces to have attended the course.