Flames date Morocco under 23
Malawi National Football Team Coach, Ronny van Geneugden, has said his charges will try to capitalise on ball-possession as they meet Morocco Under-23 in a strength testing game in Agadir Friday.
The Flames will also face Togo on Monday to wrap up the six-team training camp which rolled out yesterday in the North African nation.
The game against the Atlas Lions is expected to kick-off at 6pm Malawi time.
The Flames are expected to play the Moroccan Under-23 side that is participating in African Nations Championship qualifiers because their senior team will date Mali in a World Cup qualifier in Casablanca this evening.
“We will try to have good possession of the ball and play forward football. We want to play a passing game,” van Geneugden said.
The Flames mentor fears that the players might struggle due to fatigue after spending close to two days travelling to Agadir, a coastal town located about 430 kilometers from Casablanca.
The coach, however, said the team was expected to train twice yesterday to help the players shed off fatigue.
The Flames players travelled to Agadir in two groups, with the first one passing through Doha from South Africa while the other flew via Dubai.
The Belgian mentor, who has been battling to impress football lovers back home after his team’s lack of creativity in front of goal, said the two games will give him an opportunity to rectify the problems.
“Our main target is to build on our performance against Comoros [Malawi won 1-0]. And I hope these two games will give us that opportunity,” said van Geneugden, who has won once in seven games.
He also said Malawi would get a video clip of the game between Morocco and Mali so that he could spy on their tactics.
The two teams will also meet in the qualifiers of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations next year.
The Flames are expected to feature a fully-fledged squad in these two games which are being played on Fifa calendar dates.
The coach will, for the first time, have a chance to sample South Africa-based midfielder Robert Ng’ambi, who has been the fulcrum of the Flames.
Free-kick specialist Gerald Phiri Junior and Gabadigno Mhango are also available for selection.
Goalkeeper Charles Swini, Frank Banda, Richard Mbulu and Limbikani Mzava are all here to prove their mettle.
The Flames and the Atlas Lions have met eight times with the former winning once, losing five times and drawing twice.
Morocco are ranked 11th in Africa and 60 in the world compared to 27 on the continent for the Flames and 106 in the world.
In a related development, Football Association of Malawi (Fam) affiliates will tomorrow engage their Moroccan counterparts on football related issues.
The affiliates want to appreciate Morocco football structures and how they are run.
The officials also hope to develop a working relationship that would see Malawi regional football leagues having technical assistance from the Moroccans.
Fam and their Moroccan counterparts signed a three-year agreement that will, among other things, see the North Africans sponsoring a turf for Chilomoni Stadium in Blantyre.
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