Malawi (The Flames) made Guinea fire Coach Titi Camara

Picture: “The Hot Seat”

Guinea have a new coach by the name of Mamadi Souare, popularly known as Passarela. He is an ex-Guinea defender. He replaced former Guinea star player Aboubacar Titi Camara who was sacked earlier this month by the Guinea Football Federation after just two matches in charge both against Malawi. Home leg Guinea won 2-1 , while away leg they lost 2-1 , a result that ended their little chances of reaching the 2010 World Cup Finals in South Africa.

How can you fire a coach based on only two games? Malawi lost 3 games on the bounce. 5-0 away against Ivory Coast, 1-0 at home against Burkina Faso and then 2-1 away against Guinea. Malawi didn’t fire the coach and after the third loss they beat Guinea 2-1 at home. Patience is a virtue. May be it’s understandable that Malawi didn’t fire the coach because the other three teams are ranked higher than Malawi on FIFA rankings. But then, didn’t Malawi beat Egypt 1-0 and DRC 2-1?

Camara had been criticized for demanding “high wages” of 10,000 Euros as his monthly salary, calling up veteran players into the team and not playing attractive football. Titi camara had replaced Frenchman Robert Nouzaret. Robert Nouzaret’s salary was 23,000 Euros a month. They will not admit it but I am sure they fired Titi Camara because Guinea lost to the Flames whom they regard as minnows. Man U lost to Burnley 1-0. Ferguson should have been fired?

We need to cut the coaches some slack. You can’t coach effort. Sometimes teams lose not because the Manager is “bad” but because the players don’t put in 100% effort or because the players he has are not just good enough. During the 2006-2007 NBA season, the Celtics won only 24 games and lost 58 games but the coach wasn’t fired. The following season they won the title and 66 regular season games and lost only 16 regular season games. Patience (not firing the coach) paid off. They won more games and the title because they “bought” two more star players (Ray Allen and Kevin “The Big Ticket” Garnett).

Why do coaches get fired? Some coaches deserve to be sacked while others are wrongly sacked due to what I call “Wrong Diagnosis”. Imagine coming home at night after excessive partying, and finding yourself unable to unlock your front door. One possibility is that you are at the wrong house; another is that you are using the wrong key; and a third that your really are locked out – perhaps someone inside has engaged the deadbolt. Firing coaches due to wrong diagnosis is more common than people might think. How many coaches did New Castle hire and fire? (Did Keegan quit or did he realize that the firing was imminent?) They still got relegated due to wrong diagnosis of the problem. Coaches may have been just a small percentage of the problem.

Anyway, it’s good news for Malawi because the new Guinea Coach has no National Team coaching experience. He has little formal managerial experience but worked with globe-trotting French coach Bertrand Marchand for several seasons.

Will the new coach help them avoid the 5-0 whooping awaiting them in Ivory Coast?