Malawi National Football Team Coach Patrick Mabedi has reiterated his desire to continue scouting for more Malawian players based in Europe.
The latest star on Mabedi’s radar is Dorchester Rovers forward Shaquille Gwengwe, who finished as the team’s top scorer for two seasons.
Gwengwe netted 17 goals at the end of the 2023-24 season.
Mabedi said after getting impressed by two trialists defender Jubril Adesope Okedina and Henry Kumwenda during the Four Nations tournament which Malawi hosted recently, he needed to bring in more talent from overseas.
“I have an open door policy for each and every player who is doing well, including Europe-based players of Malawi origin. We will continue to give them a chance to prove themselves and my immediate target is Shaquille Gwengwe who has just won the golden boot at his club in England where he scored 17 goals.
“I invited him for the Four Nations tournament but his club denied him a chance to come over because they badly need him in their matches at the time. But my door is not shut on him and he will get another chance,” he said
Mabedi also wants to assess Scotland-based defender Kieran Ngwenya and another striker based in England, Paul Takondwa Maosa, next month when the Flames play against Sao Tome and Principe and Equatorial Guinea on June 5 at home and June 8, respectively.
Football analyst Roy ‘Abramo’ M’dechi described Mabedi’s intentions as beneficial.
“We have not been doing well at all levels due to the lack of depth in our team, among others. If we can get more of these foreign-based players with Malawian roots, our national team will benefit quite a lot. We need to coax as many of such players as possible, this is what other countries are doing to improve the performance of their national teams,” M’dechi said.
Malawi are currently on position four in Group H with three points from two games behind leaders Tunisia who have 6 points and Equatorial Guinea who also have 6 points but with an inferior goal difference.
