Songwe wrap up first half winless: Are they by metric in class of their own?

In the chronicles of the TNM Super League, few tales of struggle can rival the abysmal inaugural campaign of Songwe Border United. Entrusted with the weighty mantle of representing the Northern Region Football Association, the newly promoted side has found its footing in the elite echelons to be, to put it mildly, precarious.

Southern Region sent Ekhaya FC who are the surprise package this season as they have collected 26 points in the first round, beating Creck Sporting Club’s 23 points last season as the newly promoted club with most points.

The Central Region entrusted Blue Eagles, the Eagles have shown that they really belong in the elite blanket of teams in Malawi and they have a game to play this afternoon in Chitipa. They have 23 points from 14 games.

Songwe’s first-round performance, a veritable tapestry of defeats and dashed hopes, has ignited a fervent debate among football faithful: are Songwe the worst team to have ever graced the Super League?

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The club’s travails appear to be rooted in a strategic miscalculation. Having earned promotion by clinching the Simama League title in the 2024 season, the club’s hierarchy opted for a measure of continuity, retaining the core of the title-winning squad and technical panel.

While this approach may have seemed prudent, it failed to account for the yawning chasm in quality between the Simama League and the fiercely competitive Super League. The club’s only significant reinforcement was the recruitment of veteran coach Christopher Nyambose, a man with a rich pedigree, having managed a host of clubs, including Chitipa United, Karonga United, Mighty Tigers, and Bangwe All Stars.

Songwe general secretary Palisha Swira attributed their woes to over-reliance on players that had no Super League experience.

“We made a mistake when we refused to beef-up our squad with experienced players after being promoted. We really regret this because the players we have hardly stand the heat in the elite league,” he tells Nation Sport.

He came after the team lost four consecutive matches. Yet, Nyambose’s arrival, a beacon of hope for both the club and its supporters, has thus far failed to stem the relentless tide of defeats.

The season began with a torrent of disappointment. Songwe’s opening four games were an unmitigated disaster, as they succumbed to Moyale Barracks (1-0), Blue Eagles (4-0), FCB Nyasa Big Bullets (7-0), and Ekhaya FC (2-1).

The collective despair was briefly allayed by a 1-1 draw against fellow strugglers Mzuzu City Hammers, a result that was, at the time, hailed as a glimmer of resurrection. However, this fleeting moment of respite proved to be a false dawn.

In the wake of that draw, Songwe embarked on a calamitous losing streak, enduring nine consecutive defeats and conceding a staggering 27 goals, an average of three per match. The team’s defensive frailties were laid bare for all to see.

The scale of the team’s struggles has been articulated with remarkable candor by Coach Nyambose. In a recent and poignant assessment, he declared that the team “needs an overhaul,” a statement that belies the desperate situation.

His analogy of the team as a “wounded car” in dire need of “injectors, some spare parts here and there” paints a vivid picture of a squad lacking both depth and quality. He emphasized the urgent need for reinforcements across multiple positions during the transfer window, lamenting that a handful of talented players are not enough to sustain a competitive campaign.

“There is no team, this team needs an overhaul. Songwe Border United people should agree with me. We need to add new players in the transfer window. We have to inject some two or three guys,” Nyambose declared.

“Had it been that it is a car, we would have said that we need injectors, some spare parts here and there because we are moving with a wounded team. So many positions need to be beefed up, I cannot even disclose now but in general, the team needs overhaul, we need to start again.”

Despite the bleak outlook, Nyambose expressed a surprising confidence in survival, albeit with caveats. “Definitely, we will survive relegation.

“Seven players are better and we can start with them but when two or three of them get knocks, that means I’m in problems, if they are not well on that particular day, then I have problems. We need to have backups so that when we make changes, there must be a positive change.”

Songwe wrapped up the first half with a barren stalemate against struggling Mighty Tigers at Karonga Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Despite the bleak outlook, Nyambose remains surprisingly defiant, expressing a remarkable, if perhaps unwarranted, confidence in the team’s survival. He claims a “60, 70%” chance of avoiding relegation, citing the second half of the season as an opportunity for redemption.

He attributes the team’s initial struggles to a dual mandate: building a team and searching for points simultaneously. He believes the team’s defensive woes have been partially addressed, but their offensive capabilities remain a pressing concern, citing the lack of “maturity” among his strikers.

“Yah, of course the rate of survival is 60, 70% to survive the relegation. We have 15 games remaining we can do something. You see, [in the first round] I was doing two things, I was building a team, as well as searching for points.

“At first, we had problems of defending but now I’m happy that in defending, we are at least defending well but what is needed is to attack well. We were supposed to score goals, we had chances. After that red card to Tigers, we had an advantage in terms of numbers and my strikers failed to score as usual, it’s a matter of maturity. This is transfer window and we are looking here and there to strengthen the team,” he said.

Are they the worst ever team to grace Super League?

A dispassionate examination of the historical data reveals the grim reality of Songwe’s first-round performance. They concluded the first half of the season with a dismal two points, a result of two draws and 13 defeats.

This winless record places them in a category of historical infamy, a dubious honor they share with Mzuzu-based Apollo United, who also finished the first round of the 2007 season without a single victory.

However, a more comprehensive review of the last decade shows that other struggling sides, while having their share of challenges, managed to secure at least a handful of wins in the first round.

Nkhatabay United, Kabwafu United, Mzuzu United, Blantyre United, Wizards FC, Max Bullets, Chitipa United, Nchalo United, Dwangwa United, Mighty Tigers, Rumphi United, Extreme FC, and Baka City all managed to accumulate more points and secure at least one victory in their respective first rounds.

With their winless record in the first round of the season, Songwe have matched the record which was set by Mzuzu-based Apollo United who finished their first round without a win and they lost all of their 14 games in 2007.

Apollo United were then relegated from the elite league after accumulating 4 points from 28 matches but all of their points were collected in the second round of the season, stunning Nchalo United 2-1.

Records of bottom-placed teams in the first round since 2013

Nkhatabay United were another struggling team but managed to snatch four points in the first round beating EPAC FC 1-0 and playing a barren draw against Red Lions.

In 2012/13 season, Kabwafu United was the most struggling side in the first round of the campaign but they managed to get 2 wins while in 2013/14 season, Mzuzu United could manage to collect 9 points from two wins and three draws.

In 2014, Blantyre United were the most struggling side but they managed to get two wins and four draws thereby collecting 10 points while Peter Mponda’s Wizards FC in 2015 had one win and six draws thereby collecting 9 points in the first half of the campaign.

In 2016, Max Bullets had one win and four draws as they collected 7 points while Chitipa United finished the 2017 season first round with 11 points from 3 wins, two draws. Nchalo United in 2018 had 10 points from 3 wins and one draw.

In 2019, Dwangwa United had 8 points from their two wins and two draws in the first round while Mighty Tigers had 11 points in 2020/21 season after winning two games and five draws. Rumphi United in 2022 had nine points by the end of first round after winning three games.

Extreme FC in 2023 managed to get two wins in the first round including their famous 1-0 win over Mighty Wanderers at Bingu National Stadium while Baka City had 1 win and four draws thereby collecting 7 points in the first round.

While the final judgment on Songwe’s place in the history books must await the conclusion of the season, their first-round performance has been an unequivocal display of inadequacy. The combination of a winless record, a paltry two points, and a staggering goal difference paints a picture of a team that is, by any metric, in a class of its own.