By Mphatso Malidadi:
Malawi under-23 national football team has suffered a late blow for Wednesday’s match against Zambia after Vice Captain, Ernest Tambe, picked a hamstring injury during training at Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre.
The junior Flames host their neighbours at the soccer mecca in the first leg of the under-23 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
Tambe has been an integral member of the team, having featured in both games when Malawi booted out Botswana on a 3-2 aggregate over two legs.
But Malawi under-23 Coach, Meke Mwase, while admitting that Tambe’s injury was a blow, said he had adequate replacements to fill the void.
“Tambe will not be part of the team because he has sustained an injury. We would have loved to have him in the team but, with the injury, we cannot compromise. Fortunately, we have a pool of players that are equally good and will surely deliver,” Mwase said.
He expressed confidence in his team’s ability to stop the Zambians tomorrow so as to make life easier for the return leg in Lusaka after four days.
“We have had good preparations having played in Belgium and Egypt. We learnt a number of lessons that are crucial, not only for this match but other future games. For this match, we have a game-plan and players that we want to use. We just hope that everything will be fine and go according to plan,” Mwase said.
Leave a Reply