Patrick Phiri

Patrick Phiri (born in 1956) is a Zambia national football team Coach alonside Zambian living legend Kalusha Bwalya. Phiri was the Chipolopolo Boyz coach in the 2008 Africa Cup Of Nations in Ghana.

Early career

The Zambian's playing career saw him start out with Ronkana now known as Nkana Red Devils in the 70s before defecting to Zambia Air Force (ZAF) sponsored side Red Arrows in the early 80s.

Career

It was while at Ronkana, when he won his first international cap and the man they nicknamed ‘Mathetician’ was part of the Zambian squad that featured at 1978 African Cup of Nations in Ghana At Ghana 78, Phiri was mainly used as a super sub (impact player) as he was competiting for a starting berth in midfield with the likes of Alex Chola, Evans Katobe, Willie Phiri, Peter Kaumba and Stone Chibwe. Phiri’s managerial qualities initially came to the fore whilst he was at Arrows. And ZAF did not hesistate sending him to Germany after the recomendition of the then ZAF sports officer Boniface Simutowe ( now coach of Profound).

On his return from Germany, Phiri was entrusted with the job of managing, Red Arrows and the young coach did not disappoint. But it was at another FAZ Premier league side, Lusaka Dynamos that Phiri built a side on strong team play , closing down the opponents and hardwork which took the league by storm. Some of the top name players Dynamos produced during Phir’s time are Perry Mutapa (played in Portugal and South Africa notably with Orlando Pirates), Alex Namazaba and the late Nsofwa Chaswe (Malaysia and Israel).

His success at Dynamos did not go unnoticed, as FAZ offered him the Zambia national soccer team Under-20 in 1996. Phiri guided the team to the 1997 African Youth Cup championship which was held in Morocco. Phiri’s squad was inexperience as they crushed out in the group stages losing 1-0 to Benni McCarthy led Amaglu-glu and drawing 2-2 against Boventure Kalou’s Ivory Coast and 1-1 against Mali. One Suprising thing is that only Andrew Sinkala (Germany and Harry Milanzi (Angola) are still playing active football while the likes Rotson Kilambe,Edward ’Bubble’ Kangwa, Emmanuel Zulu, George Kampembwa, Gift Kampamba, Gerald Sakala and Perry Mutapa Mutapa haven’t lived up to their potential.

Phiri was replaced by the late Benjamin Bwalya-Kalusha’s elder brother just after the African Youth Cup but unfortunately Bwalya passed away in 1998 and Phiri bounced back. Phiri continued from were he left and made history by qualifying to the 1999 FIFA World Youth Cup in Nigeria, a first time ever by a Zambian coach and team. At the finals the Andrew Sinkala captained side beat Honduras 4-3 and forced a draw against the eventual champions Spain who featured Real Madrid duo of Iker Casilas and Guti. The Zambian squad which featured the likes Gift and Chintu Kampamba, Milton Tembo, Amon Simutowe,Ronald Mbambara, Chaswe, Zulu and Ian Bakala eventually bowed out of the tournament after losing 5-1 to Brazil’s Ronaldinho.

Phiri completed the dream year (Bamfuchile’s Under-23 led by Moses Sichone, Mutapa and Kilambe were runners up to Cameroon at the All Africa Games) for Zambian football when he guided the under-20 to their third successive COSAFA Under- 20 title over archrivals South Africa. This is Phiri’s greatest achievement and memorable moment.

The former Nkana and Red Arrows winger then trekked to Tanzania were he had a stint with Simba FC. After a first round elimination at Mali 2002 African Cup of Nations, Phiri replaced controversial Germany Burkand Ziese as the Chipolopolo coach. The soft spoken Germany trained coach was tasked with qualifying the Copperbullets to Tunisia 2004 AFCON but lucky was not on his side as Zambia lost 3-1 to Benin in the last game. This was the first time since 1990 that the chipolopolo boys has failed to qualify for African biggest showpiece and Phiri’s sack was inevitable and he was sacked after a COSAFA semi final post match penalties loss to Malawi in August 2004.

One thing worth noting is that Phiri has proved himself to be a shrewd at unleashing new gems this time he gave international debuts to players like Collins Mbesuma, Chris Katongo, Noel Mwandila,Clive Hachilensa, Noel Mwandila, Songwe and Sashi Chalwe.

Tanzania was to be again his hiding place as he propelled Simba FC to a league by going unbeaten. Whilst at Simba, Phiri was involved in an accident and was unable to continue coaching. He was replaced by South African Trott Moloto at Simba while he was recovering. After his recovery, he was hired by his former club Nkana as the technical Director.

Phiri’s time as a coach has been defined by peaks and troughs. And when Kalusha Bwalya did not renew his contract and hot favourite for the job Ben Bamfuchile opted for a more stable and financial lucrative job in Namibia, FAZ appointed Phiri as the caretaker coach.

This time Phiri delivered as he guided Zambia to two regional titles; COSAFA Castle cup trophy and CECAFA Challenge Cup in 2006. These were the first trophies Zambia had won since since 1998.With a game left, away against Bafana Bafana, three points behind group leaders South Africa, Zambia chances of qualifying for Ghana 2008 AFCON were slim. Was this going to be another Phiri’s 2004 debacle? With fans calling for his chop, Phiri’ Zambia surprised many by beating archrivals Brazilian Pereira’s coached Bafana Bafana 3-1 and this won him many pundits praise. The 1994 World Cup winner Pareira revenged in the final of the 2007 regional COSAFA Castle Cup final when the two countries met on October, 24th.

After guiding the Chipolopolo boys to Ghana 2008, Phiri ‘s real task is to ensure they don’t ship into another trough at the 26th edition of the African Cup of Nations in Ghana

External links

* [http://www.ZAMBIAFOOTBALL.com Zambia Football]