Flames seeded in Cosafa Cup
The draw for 2016 Cosafa Castle Cup takes place on April 25 with Malawi national football team, the Flames, and three other teams being seeded.
Holders Namibia will host the tournament from June 11 to 25.
The seeding of the Flames, Angola, Zimbabwe and Swaziland was based on Fifa world ranking for April. This means that the Flames, Angola, Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Madagascar, Lesotho, Mauritius and Seychelles will play in two groups of four teams each.
Each group winner will join guests, the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa, Zambia, Botswana, Mozambique, and defending champions Namibia in the quarterfinals.
Football Association of Malawi (Fam) Technical Director, John Kaputa, described the seeding as a recognition of the Flames’ performance in the last tournament where they won the Plate Division category.
“This time around we should higher. The team should do better. We have the potential to scale greater heights,” said Kaputa.
Flames Coach, Ernest Mtawali, yesterday hoped that the two-fime finalists, Malawi, will perform better during the Cosafa cup.
“I believe the South African-based players will manage to join us in camp since they will be on break. As for those based in Mozambique, we hope they will be released as well since Mozambique will be participating in the tournament,” Mtawali said.
Fam Chief Executive Officer, Suzgo Nyirenda, said the association’s technical committee would meet on Saturday to strategise on Malawi’s participation in the cup, which the Flames are yet to win.
Cosafa cup has produce many talented players for Malawi such as Esau Kanyenda, Joseph Kamwendo, Robert Ng’ambi, Micium Mhone and Joseph Kamwendo.
African Nations Championship winners, DRC have been added as a guest nation to the star-studded line-up for the Cosafa tournament.
A vibrant writer who gives a great insight on hot topics and issues
