…You are talking about bad things only, he says
MALAWI national football team, the Flames, returned from the barren Cosafa Castle Cup in South Africa on Friday afternoon with a message that they have learnt a lot from the competition.
With two points amassed from two draws against Mauritius and Angola and a 2-0 loss to Tanzania, Coach Ronny van Geneugden (RVG), said the team should be given more time to improve.
“You are only talking about the bad things at the competition, but I look at the benefits we have brought home. Journalists, coaches and other people in South Africa have hailed our performance, but that is gone. “We now need to focus on maintaining the standards we have set.
In this view, I will maintain the squad and appeal to Football Association of Malawi (Fam) to organise some friendly matches during the Fifa calendar dates of September, October and November,” van Geneugden said.
The coach also said he was impressed with the performance of some debutants at the competition. Azam Tigers’ Peter Cholopi and Premier Bet Wizards’ Ian Chinyama and Denis Chembezi made their debuts at the competition.
However, Chinyama got injured on his debut against Mauritius and was operated on at a hospital in South Africa after suffering three facial fractures.
Dalitso Sailesi and Ernest Kakhobwe of Nyasa Big Bullets received man of the match awards during the games against Mauritius and Angola. John Lanjesi and Mecium Mhone returned home injured.
Malawi are the only team to have failed to score at the regional football showpiece.
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