It Boils Down to Mental Fortitude?

Comment by Mwata Chisha
I need somebody to talk me down on this matter.
Bringing in a coach from Italy for the purpose of preparing the team to win a specific cup tournament is a short term fix to what seemingly is a long term problem. And the problem is, We do not have a Zambian coach to train our team to win that cup. Yes we may win that cup and perhaps even enter the world cup for the first time. But what messages are we constantly and consistently depositing in our collective subconscious mind? That we are incapable of doing it ourselves. As Bonetti states, we lack the mental fortitude.

Are we agreeing with Bonetti that our culture has, for almost half a century failed to produce a world class coach? I offer my suggestion at the bottom of this article

FAZ unveils Bonetti as executive members reject team manager
By Sydney Mungala and Augustine Mukoka
Tue 27 July 2010, 04:00 CAT

THE Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) has finally unveiled Italian national Dario Bonetti as Chipolopolo coach on a two-year contract.

And FAZ executive members have differed over the appointment of Division Two side (Copperbelt) Nkwiza official Lusekelo Kamwambi as Chipolopolo team manager.

During a press briefing at Football House yesterday, FAZ president Kalusha Bwalya said Bonetti’s immediate task was to qualify Chipolopolo to the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations to be co-hosted by Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.

“I think coaches need a target. For the moment the target is the Africa Cup of Nations in 2012. You will agree with me that after 2012 there is not enough time going to the 2013 tournament. I am sure that the same teams that will qualify for 2012 will go for 2013,” Bwalya said.

“Eventually we are looking in phases of two years. I think that you have to prepare now so that you are in the World Cup but I think the immediate target the coaches have is the Africa Cup in 2012.”
Bwalya called the arrival of the Italian and his three assistants the dawn of a new era.

Speaking through an interpreter, Bonetti described the Chipolopolo job as a fantastic opportunity.
He said coaching Zambia was a fantastic opportunity especially that the future of World football lay in Africa.

“This is a fantastic experience but not only on the sports side but also in terms of relations with people. It can give us a possibility to get in contact with another culture. We are very happy to start a relationship with a great national team,” he said.

“The future for world football is in Africa. We see every day there are new players young, strong and very physical and also technically coming out of Africa.”

He added: “Between mixing two different schools like the African school and the European side you can grow on the tactical side and technical side with the quality of the players Zambia has the future looks well.”

Bonetti said Zambian players were very skillful and only needed to grow.
“We watched all the games Zambia played at the last Africa Cup and they are very skillful players but they only need to work on the mental side which is made easier by their skill,” he said.

Bonetti comes to the fold with compatriots Brindelli Alessandro who will be the first assistant, Bozzini Claudio as goalkeeper coach and Ruggierro Umberto as physical trainer.

He takes over from Frenchman Herve Renard who opted out before his contract ran out to take over as Angola coach.

Meanwhile, Bwalya also announced that Under-23 coach Lucky Msiska will be the local assistant, but did not announce the position of team manager which has been given to Kamwambi.

FAZ sources revealed that the majority of the executive committee members are not in agreement with Kamwambi’s appointment.

“It is surprising that Kalusha has gone ahead to appoint Kamwambi as team manager. This is not what the executive committee has decided on,” he said.

Kamwambi is FAZ executive committee member Lenny Nkhuwa’s brother.
“In one of the meetings, the madam Lenny was asked to excuse herself from the deliberations as a way of declaring interest but she refused and Kalusha supported her.

“Meantime, most of the executive committee members have debated on more than two occasion against the appointment of Kamwambi. It’s better to even bring back Solly Pandor,” the source said. “There are competent people who can take over as team managers.”

The source accused Bwalya of appointing national team managers in a bid to win favours ahead of the 2012 FAZ elections.

“If you look at the team managers at all the nationals team, they are executive committee members at football clubs. Jeff Chipilingo (Under-23) is the chairman at Lusaka Tigers, Daniel Jere (Under-17) is a club secretary at Zacks United and Lusekelo (senior national team) is club secretary at Nkwiza,” the source explained.

“We are surprised that these appointment which are supposed to be done through the technical committee are made by one person, which is Kalusha.

“Emmanuel Munaile is the chairman of the technical committee but cannot say anything because he is a puppet.”
Zambia begins her 2012 Africa Cup of Nations campaign with a fixture against Comoros Islands at Konkola Stadium in Chililabombwe on September 4.

The Post

The mental fortitude the new coach is referring to has very little to do with knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to play the game right. The problem lies in the way we see ourselves. That changes now. Because if you accept my suggestion, forget the next world cup, prepare to win the one that follows.

In the meantime, put aside $10.0M every year to prepare a group of 5 Zambians to be world class coaches, within the next 3 years. The modalities of that project is a topic for another discussion. Right now, we need to be concerned with growing our own coaches. We cannot continue spending billions of dollars on borrowed talent. We must get serious and grow our own. That is what serious people do. Grow your own. The benefits of doing this successfully are enormous. They extend to other areas beyond the football field.

Picture this for a second, we might very well be the first African country to have its own dark skinned coach take the national team to the world cup. In this lifetime!