Kalu backs Lwandamina, local coaches

Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) president Kalusha Bwalya has backed Chipolopolo coach George Lwandamina adding that the football governing body remains committed to appointing local coaches to the national teams.

Kalusha spoke to fazfootball.com following the appointment of British coach Irfan Kawri as assistant coach of the Zambia national football team.

Kawri has a Zambian mother and an Indian father but holds British citizenship.

“Our local coaches are good enough. We have local coaches who have done well. Lwandamina is supported by Zambian staff and with them we are in the CHAN, we are in contention for qualification to the 2017 Afcon and we made it to the group stages for World Cup qualifiers,” said Kalusha.

“But it is important that we spice up the national team technical bench and not forgetting that George Lwandamina is the head coach.”

Kalusha stated that the football governing body’s policy was to give the position of national team coach to a Zambian.

“When we gave George Lwandamina the opportunity to work with the national team we always wanted to Zambianise the position.

“At FAZ we are very comfortable with George at the helm because we know what he can bring.

“He has shown that he has the group behind him and has shown his leadership qualities as a coach. I think he has come of age; this is a very important moment for him.

“But we have to give enough ammunition to the person who is charge so that he can exercise his duties properly and to the satisfaction of the Zambian people.

“If you look at the technical bench which we have with Lwandamina being the head coach, we always knew that we needed an extra person for the team to have other strengths.

“We have a goalkeeper coach, we have Chintu as assistant coach, we have the team manager, the kit manager but we needed to have somebody who would be able to provide detailed analysis of opponents and of our own strengths tactically, technically, physically as well as psychologically.

“So it was important for us to find somebody who would fit that bill and we thought Irfan could do that job.

“We have to go with modern trends in football, in Europe especially there is a lot of analysis of the game, player for player.

“You study your opponents, then you look at your team’s strengths and afterwards you will be able to bring that into training in regard to the opponents.

“So it is very important that we add more spice to our technical bench and not forget that Lwandamina is the head coach.

“I do not think that Irfan should be under any scrutiny because he is not the head coach. He is not coming to take over George Lwandamina’s job. He is only coming to assist.

“We don’t have to give importance or non importance where it is not due. For me the assistant coach does not exist because the person who will get the credit; the one who is always going to be under the microscope is the head coach,” Kalusha said