{"id":37446,"date":"2016-12-14T11:08:46","date_gmt":"2016-12-14T09:08:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.times.mw\/?p=37446"},"modified":"2016-12-14T11:08:47","modified_gmt":"2016-12-14T09:08:47","slug":"not-a-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/2016\/12\/14\/not-a-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"Not a crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"

A<\/em><\/strong>malawi tiyeni kumudzi basi! <\/em>(just go back home you Malawians!) A fan screamed in disjointed Chichewa at a deserted Moruleng Stadium in South Africa\u2019s North West Province Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n

And with that Malawi Under-20 National Football Team\u2019s Cosafa Youth Championship time was over at exactly 1 pm after characteristically losing 0-1 to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in a dead-rubber match.<\/p>\n

The Junior Flames, who could have easily lost 0-5 if goalkeeper Christopher Mikuwa had not denied the huge DRC strikers countless times with one-handed saves, punches and blocks, exited the competition without scoring in three games in which they let in four goals following a goalless draw with Zimbabwe and a 3-0 loss to Zambia.<\/p>\n

However, in a post-match interview, Coach Gerald Phiri Senior chose to focus on the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, it is disappointing that we are out without even scoring a goal. Yes, I know that people need results but that should not stop us, as a country, from taking the long and painful route to development,\u201d Phiri said.<\/p>\n

During the game, DRC scored through Nathan Lusuku who rose the highest over Malawi\u2019s defence to nod past Mikuwa after meeting a high ball whipped from the left-wing in the 25th minute.<\/p>\n

But when the bearded Lusuku, Chadrack Lukombe and Peter Zulu bombarded Malawi\u2019s goalposts with bullets fired from all angles, Mikuwa had a goalkeeping answer.<\/p>\n

The young custodian flew to punch out shots, blocked with his legs and spread himself to the ground to ensure respect to the score-line.<\/p>\n

In Mikuwa, defenders Hadji Wali and Kondwani Mwaila and captain Mike Mkwate plus Peter Banda, who was unavailable through injury, the team has a bright future.<\/p>\n

However, save for a goal-bound substitute Ronald Pangani\u2019s shot which DRC\u2019s Zulu cleared off the line, the Junior Flames were so blunt upfront.<\/p>\n

The Junior Flames are very talented but too inexperienced. They dribble when they are supposed to pass and vice versa.<\/p>\n

The Junior Flames are gems rough around the edges but gems all the same. It hurts but their loss is not a crisis.<\/p>\n

Malawi starting XI: Mikuwa Kennedy Kachimamga, Johnson (Pangani), Mkwate (c), Chimwemwe Idana, (Yafet Mangani), Francisco Madinga, Nickson Nyasulu, Precious Sambani, Abel Mwakilama, Wali, Kondwani Mwaila.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Amalawi tiyeni kumudzi basi! (just go back home you Malawians!) A fan screamed in disjointed Chichewa at a deserted Moruleng Stadium in South Africa\u2019s North West Province Tuesday morning. And with that Malawi Under-20 National Football Team\u2019s Cosafa Youth Championship time was over at exactly 1 pm after characteristically losing 0-1 to the Democratic Republic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":37447,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37446","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\/37446","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=37446"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37446\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37448,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37446\/revisions\/37448"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}