Under-fire Malawi National Football Team Coach Patrick Mabedi believes he has acquired new techniques to improve his misfiring charges after he attended a two-day Post-Afcon Coaches Conference Programme in Ivory Coast.
Mabedi attended the conference soon after the Flames lost to Burkina Faso 3-1 in Bamako, Mali in a Group L match that left Malawi anchoring the four-team table of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
The former Kaizer Chiefs and FCB Nyasa Big Bullets captain described the conference as fruitful.
“We had a very good Afcon review and coaching analysis on how our counterparts prepare for their games and tactics they use to do better.
“A lot of coaches have had several challenges before and during the Afcon games. It was an eye opener to most coaches. We intend to borrow a leaf on how best our colleagues approach games so the expertise gained from this conference will help me on how better we can approach the remaining Afcon games,” Mabedi said.
During the conference experts and participants tackled various topics including introduction to Caf technical development, refereeing, VAR technology and referees decision, and technical findings, which focussed on stats and performances.
Former internationals Jay Jay Okocha (Nigeria), ElHadji Diouf (Senegal) and Gadji Celi (Ivory Coast) also made presentations and interacted with the coaches.
Well-known coaches on the continent including Zambia’s Avram Grant and Flames former coach Mario Marian Marinica, who is now coaching Liberia, were among the participants.
However, football analyst Roy Abramo M’dechi while appreciating the importance of the conference expressed worry whether it will have any meaningful impact for Flames forthcoming games.
“These days it is how you plan as a federation, players selection and their commitment including the quality of coaches and amount of financial support you get that impacts the results,” M’dechi said.
The Flames will face Senegal next month in back-to-back qualifiers.
Burkina Faso lead the group with four points while Senegal are second on goal difference having tied with the leaders on points.
Burundi, who stunned the Flames 3-2, are third in the group with three points. Malawi are at the bottom without a point.
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