Flames regroup Wednesday
Malawi National Football Team, the Flames, will regroup at Mpira Village on Wednesday to start preparation for 2022 Fifa World Cup qualifiers against Cameroon and Mozambique next month.
The Flames will face Cameroon away on September 4 before hosting Mozambique at Orlando Stadium in South Africa on September 7 after Bingu National Stadium was banned from hosting international matches due to the poor condition of the playing surface.
Only local based players will start preparations on Wednesday but Nyasa Big Bullets players will join camp on Thursday after their TNM Super League fixture against Red Lions at Mpira Stadium.
Football Association of Malawi (Fam) General Secretary Alfred Gunda and Competitions and Communications Director, Gomezgani Zakazaka could not answer mobile phones yesterday.
But inside sources confided in The Daily Times that the Flames coach Meck Mwase is expected to name a provisional squad today.
“As usual, before camp, the players will undergo Covid tests. The foreign country-based players will go straight to Cameroon for the match,” said the source.
Malawi will face Ivory Coast in October this year.
Mwase is expected to include some of the players who impressed during the Cosafa Cup in South Africa, despite the team’s poor showing, where it lost two matches and chalked two draws.
Sport analyst George Kaudza- Masina urged Mwase to select players on merit.
“I believe he will choose players based on their current form. We are preparing for the World Cup qualifiers but we should have the Afcon finals in mind,” he added.
The Flames are in Group B ahead of Afcon finals alongside number one-ranked team in Africa Senegal, Guinea and Zimbabwe.
Malawi will start their Afcon campaign against Guinea on January 10 before facing Zimbabwe four days later. Their last group B match will be against Senegal on January 18.
