FLAMES Head Coach Ronny Van Geneugden has questioned the attitude of his charges during a strength testing match against a skilful, resolute and youthful Morocco national soccer team. Featuring a predominantly Under-23 squad, Morocco came from behind to hold the Flames to a one-all \u2013draw in Agadir on Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were good and comfortable late in the game but I am disappointed that we did not go for the second goal,\u201d Geneugden said.<\/p>\n
He said the players were not aggressive when they reached the final third which culminated in missing numerous scoring opportunities.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to be more aggressive in the 18-yard box. The young (Moroccan) players piled a lot of pressure on our defence,\u201d said the Belgian mentor. Morocco\u2019s coach, Marik Wotte, said his team is highly-exposed and has won several tournaments competed for by teams from Frenchspeaking countries.<\/p>\n
The team had beaten Gambia before playing Malawi and is preparing to face Italy in another strength-testing match.<\/p>\n
\u201cMalawi gave us a good practicing match. You have a very good number 11 (Gabadinho). He has the pace and is aggressive,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
How Malawi played Charles Swini: The goal minder was outstanding throughout. He made four crucial saves in the first 15 minutes as Morocco terrorized Malawi\u2019s defence and midfield. Stanley Sanudi: He was exposed on several occasions as Morocco attacked via the flanks. He later gained composure and started overlapping. His power-packed shot on the edge of the box took a deflection off Moroccan defender, Bou Touil Abdelmounaij, for the match opener. Dennis Chembezi:<\/p>\n
The left back lacked composure in the first half and rarely overlapped. This resulted in inviting pressure from the hosts. However, with time Chembezi improved and looked promising.<\/p>\n
Limbikani Mzava: He commanded the defence well as captain of the side and responded to Morocco\u2019s attacks with the authority of a general. He constantly discouraged his charges from arguing with the officiating crew. He kept reminding his younger colleagues about the importance of keeping possession in such a game.<\/p>\n
Peter Cholopi: Playing alongside Mzava for the first time, he was jittery in the first half. But he later picked up his game and stood up to be counted. Robert Ng\u2019ambi: The veteran midfielder was given a restrictive holding midfielder role contrary to what he does at his South African club, Platinum Stars.<\/p>\n
As a result, he did not attack the way he does for his club. However, he had some flashes of brilliance. He was later substituted for Chikoti Chirwa. Chikoti Chirwa: He added stability to the midfield when the team changed to a 3-4-3 formation.<\/p>\n
Dalitso Sailesi: He came in for Cholopi and played as a winger. He controlled the midfield with dexterity. He improved Malawi\u2019s attacking rhythm. John Banda:\u00a0 He failed to control the game in the first half but was more solid in the second half. He made a telling combination with Gabadinho Mhango. Frank Banda: He lacked pace on the wing but was vital in terminating dangerous moves from the opponents.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Gabadinho Mhango:\u00a0 His acceleration on the ball was fantastic. He constantly put Morocco\u2019s defence under pressure. He was subjected to crunching tackles in a desperate attempt to stop him. Above all, he won praises from Morocco coach, Marik Wotte.<\/p>\n
Richard Mbulu: His combination with Gabadinho did not work as anticipated. He lacked composure in the box. He missed three opportunities due to lack of concentration and will power to fight. He was substituted for Jabulani Linje. Jabulani Linje: He looked stiff and failed to command the striking force possibly due to jet lag. He missed a glorious opportunity in the dying minutes due to lack of composure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
FLAMES Head Coach Ronny Van Geneugden has questioned the attitude of his charges during a strength testing match against a skilful, resolute and youthful Morocco national soccer team. Featuring a predominantly Under-23 squad, Morocco came from behind to hold the Flames to a one-all \u2013draw in Agadir on Friday. \u201cWe were good and comfortable late […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":52869,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52867","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\/52867","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=52867"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52867\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52873,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52867\/revisions\/52873"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}