Guinea game on March 25
Malawi national football team, the Flames, will play Guinea on March 25 in Conakry after Confederation of African Football (Caf) confirmed the fixture for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifier.
Earlier reports suggested that the hosts, Guinea, wanted the Group L game played on March 26, whereas Football Association of Malawi (Fam) chose March 27.
Following Caf’s confirmation, the first leg will be played at 26th September Stadium from 5 pm with the reverse fixture at Kamuzu Stadium on March 29, Fam general secretary, Suzgo Nyirenda, confirmed yesterday.
The confirmation paves the way for Malawi to proceed with its plans to stop over in Sierra Leone for a training match. Earlier, the Flames wanted to tune up in Mali.
“We have informed our colleagues in Sierra Leone about this development and we are expected to get feedback before the end of the week,” said Nyirenda, whose body was waiting for the fixture before agreeing with Sierra Leone on the warm-up date,” Nyirenda said.
“We are now working on the flight bookings and accommodation. Fam will take care of its delegation to Guinea as per rules and regulations of Afcon. We are also processing visas for our delegation.”
Malawi, which might leave on March 20 for Guinea, is third in the group with one point, at par with the bottom-placed Guinea. Zimbabwe and Swaziland lead the group on four points from two games each.
Meanwhile, there is no movement for the Flames on the latest edition of Fifa Coca-Cola world ranking released Thursday.
The Flames—due to its inactivity in three months—are still ranked 104 out of some 205 national teams worldwide, while lying 28th in Africa and fifth in Southern Africa.
Ranked 31st in the world, Cape Verde are Africa’s top-rated team followed by reigning continental kings, Cote d’Ivoire (36th in the world), Algeria (37), Ghana (41), Tunisia (47), Senegal (48) and Egypt (53) on position two, three, four, five and six respectively.
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