Malawi\u2019s Flames, determined to convert their critics and doubters into believers, must build on their 2016 Cosafa Cup promising start when plunging into tonight\u2019s battle against the islanders of Mauritius in Namibia.<\/p>\n
With Group B leadership at stake tonight (8:15 pm) at Independence Stadium in Windhoek, Flames coach Ernest Mtawali has hinted that he will not tamper with the squad that beat youthful Angola 3-0 on Sunday night.<\/p>\n
Gabadinho Mhango\u2019s hat-trick sent the Flames to second in the group with three points at par with leaders Lesotho\u2019s Crocodiles, who hurt Mauritius by a similar margin also on Sunday.<\/p>\n
However, anything can happen on squad selection with the Malawi mentor, whose faith in the youth and refusal to give senior players preferential treatment, has not pleased some quarters.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs you are aware, it has been a long time since we won by such a margin. I thank the boys for the hard work,\u201d Mtawali said after yesterday\u2019s morning training session.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can see that the boys are defending well and they are able to create chances. Talking about the Mauritius game, we are prepared for it psychologically. Mentally, we are ready. We are just looking for good results.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Flames must not only aim at winning, but also score more going into Thursday\u2019s decisive meeting with leaders Lesotho\u2019s Crocodiles. Only group winners will date South Africa in the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n
Mhango, who is the leading scorer at the tournament, is set to start upfront alongside Chiukepo Msowoya with Joseph Kamwendo\u2019s creativity, Isaac Kaliyati\u2019s penetrative runs and Gerald Phiri\u2019s long-range passing and set-pieces controlling the midfield.<\/p>\n
Better goalkeeping is expected from the Flames\u2019 Charles Swini, who was jittery against Angola, but has now managed two clean sheets. However, Mauritius will be tougher than the na\u00efve Angolans.<\/p>\n
Towering Peter Bell, whose ice-cool approach to the game is like that of Phiri Jnr, is the one to watch for Mauritius who have in 18 meetings with Malawi lost 10, won four and drawn four. Mauritius are nicknamed Club M.<\/p>\n
Some 80 places separate the 107 ranked Malawi from Mauritius, who are coached by Joe Shupula. The islanders\u2019 Cosafa Cup record of a single quarterfinal appearance pales into comparison with the Flames\u2019 2002 and 2003 appearance in the finals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Malawi\u2019s Flames, determined to convert their critics and doubters into believers, must build on their 2016 Cosafa Cup promising start when plunging into tonight\u2019s battle against the islanders of Mauritius in Namibia. With Group B leadership at stake tonight (8:15 pm) at Independence Stadium in Windhoek, Flames coach Ernest Mtawali has hinted that he will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":26177,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26173","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\/26173","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=26173"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26173\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26178,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26173\/revisions\/26178"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}