Flames coach Patrick Mabedi has called for the alignment of the football calendar following Malawi National Football Team’s humiliating 4-0 defeat to Kenya’s Harambee Stars in the Four Nations Tournament at Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe on Saturday.
However, Mabedi said even though the Flames suffered an “embarrassing” defeat, the country must understand that the tournament is being used to assess the squad.
The Flames were down 2-0 inside the first four minutes before the Harambee Stars scored two late goals.
Mabedi felt that his local charges lacked match fitness as it is currently off season.
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“We have to align the off seasons with the Fifa calendar and global standards. In Zambia they were doing the same as we do but they had to change and cope with other countries because, at the end of the day, we have to be playing with teams that are ready on physical ability.
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“And that disparity will reflect when we are playing in international competitions like the Afcon and the World Cup, where we will have a little bit of a problem,” Mabedi said.
The Flames boss said the game allowed him to test players in readiness for the qualifiers.
“At the end of the game, we must understand that we are giving opportunities to players. Some players will take the chances and others will not but, at the end of the day, the technical team has a little bit of an idea on players who are willing to take up the chances.
“These games give us a good test. We have matches coming that we need to compete in. We needed these games to judge the players. There were positives and negatives we needed to take from the games,” he said.
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The Flames will return to action Tuesday when facing Zambia’s Chipolopolo Boys in a third-fourth place play-off at Bingu National Stadium while Zimbabwe will meet Kenya in the final.
