Maybe it was fatigue taking its toll on the Flames. Maybe it was the suicidal 3-5-2 formation backfiring, but Tuesday\u2019s 2-1 home loss to Guinea evoked questions on whether Malawi football has any sense of direction.<\/p>\n
Questions of direction are relevant as after the loss, the Flames are bottom of Group L with two points from four games, with qualification to 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) finals now rendered into mere fantansies.<\/p>\n
Such has been the perrenial national football disaster in 51 years for the Flames, who have been to Afcon finals twice only.<\/p>\n
After grinding out a goalless draw on Friday in Guinea, three days after a 1-1 draw during a warm-up in Sierra Leone, the Flames turned up at Kamuzu Stadium yesterday visibly sluggish\u2014without any hunger, zeal and purpose.<\/p>\n
Flames coach, Ernest Mtawali, who when told that his one-year contract renewal depended on the two games against Gunea abandoned his youth policy, also had more questions than answers yesterday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe played high balls to strikers. It was ping-pong. That is not our game. We play possession football. The whole team did not perform. We didnt show any hunger. Playing many games is not an excuse. Guinea, too, were subjected to similar conditions,\u201d said Mtawali as the fans booed his team off the pitch.<\/p>\n
If Mtawali did not have a clue, Guinea assistant coach, Lauren, had the answers after this result that has ignited the campaign for the Syli Nationale, who moved up to third on five points, three behind leaders, Zimbabwe.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were fighting. A lot of people [players] play in Europe. They are not used to this kind of a pitch [artificial]. Playing two games within five days is tough for both teams. Malawi were under pressure. They didnt play freely. They did not know when to attack and defend. They were caught in between,\u201d Lauren said in a post-match interview.<\/p>\n
Malawi travel to Zimbabwe in June then welcome Swaziland in September for what appears mere academic pursuits. The question is not what was the problem for the Flames, but what were the problems yesterday.<\/p>\n
Young goalkeeper, Brigton Munthali, was at fault for both goals as he was caught off guard for Guinea\u2019s equaliser by Lamine Yattara added time for the first half, before dropping a corner on the feet of Idrissa Sylla for Guinea\u2019s second goal on the 59th minute.<\/p>\n
But to be brutally honest, save for Stanley Sanudi and Harry Nyirenda, the whole Flames, who had gone in front against the run of play through Chiukepo Msowoya\u2019s 30th minute header, appeared to be merely going through motion.<\/p>\n
What was more mind-boggling was that this was an experienced squad also comprising John Banda, Limbikani Mzava, Msowoya, Frank Gabadinho Mhango, Chimango Kayira and Robert Ng\u2019ambi. The team could not just keep the ball, let alone show focus.<\/p>\n
Malawi played so badly on a sunny afternoon that the red sea of fans could visibly be seen dozing and yawning only for them to come back to full life when Msowoya scored at the back post from a left-wing free-kick after Mhango was fouled.<\/p>\n
The lead vanished into the thin air as Yattara glanced the ball into net after connecting a throw-in from the right wing with goalkeeper Munthali, caught in no-man\u2019s land.<\/p>\n
Guinea equalised minutes after Mhango had headed wide from Micium Mhone\u2019s cross with Isaac Kaliyati also shooting wide after yet another cut -back from the Jomo Cosmos\u2019 man.<\/p>\n
After break, Mtawali pulled out Mhango for Schumacher Kuwali, Francis Mlimbika replaced Kaliyati, and eventually, injured Mhone came out for Mkanda. But with every substitution, the Flames sunk even deeper like a Titanic.<\/p>\n
Mtawali threw into battle an attacking 3-5-2 formation that was later altered to 4-4-2, but Guinea too crowded the midfield with Ng\u2019ambi, Banda and Kaliyati bumping into each other in midfield.<\/p>\n
Msowoya and Mhango were isolated with Guinea playing long and high balls. Florentin Pogba defended solidly and roughly. Not that Guinea were any better, but their win serves to show just how horrible the Flames were on the afternoon. Good bye Afcon race!<\/p>\n
Malawi starting XI: <\/strong>Munthali, Sanudi, Nyirenda, Limbikani Mzava, Ng\u2019ambi, Isaac Kaliyati (Mlimbika), Chimango Kayira, John Banda, Mhone (Mkanda, Chiukepo Msowoya, Mhango (Kuwali).<\/p>\n Referee: <\/strong>Nlinkoo Parmendra (Mauritius)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Maybe it was fatigue taking its toll on the Flames. Maybe it was the suicidal 3-5-2 formation backfiring, but Tuesday\u2019s 2-1 home loss to Guinea evoked questions on whether Malawi football has any sense of direction. Questions of direction are relevant as after the loss, the Flames are bottom of Group L with two points […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":21682,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21681"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21681\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21683,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21681\/revisions\/21683"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}