{"id":77123,"date":"2019-04-22T09:34:40","date_gmt":"2019-04-22T07:34:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.times.mw\/?p=77123"},"modified":"2019-04-22T09:34:40","modified_gmt":"2019-04-22T07:34:40","slug":"eswatini-coach-expects-tough-2nd-leg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/2019\/04\/22\/eswatini-coach-expects-tough-2nd-leg\/","title":{"rendered":"eSwatini coach expects tough 2nd leg"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Mabvuto Kambuwe:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

eSwatini Coach Costa Papic has described Malawi national football team as a very good side that played as if it were at home in the 2020 African Nations Championship at Mavuso Sports Centre in Manzini.<\/p>\n

The match ended in a barren draw as Flames strikers Chiukepo Msowoya and Khuda Muyaba squandered numerous chances created in the first leg match.<\/p>\n

This was interim Coach Meke Mwase\u2019s first game in charge after replacing Belgian Ronny van Geneugden (RVG) whose two-year contract, which expired on March 31, was not renewed.<\/p>\n

The two teams are scheduled to meet on May 11 at Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre for the match that will decide who progresses to the next round.<\/p>\n

But speaking in reaction to the 0-0 stalemate, Papic said the second leg will not be easy.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be honest, Malawi is a very good team. They play compact football and they were physically ready for this match. From the way they expressed themselves in this match, they came here to win.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThey were not defending like most teams do when playing away. Anyone who watched this match will agree with me if I say it will not be easy in Malawi. But I believe in my boys and we will see what happens,\u201d<\/em> he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Saturday\u2019s result means the Flames must beat eSwatini to qualify to the next round.<\/p>\n

But eSwatini, also known as Sihlangu (king\u2019s shield), only need a scoring draw to advance on the away goals rule in the continental competition set aside for home-based players.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Malawi returned from the kingdom nation through Chileka Airport yesterday.<\/p>\n

Speaking on arrival, Mwase pleaded with the players to do more and make Malawians happy in the return match.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had chances but we did not score. The players must do more and understand that football is won through scoring goals,\u201d<\/em> he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Veteran striker Msowoya was the major culprit in the Saturday match after missing the Flames\u2019 best chance of the game in the 66th minute.<\/p>\n

He was later taken off for midfielder Chimwemwe Idana in the 77th minute as Malawi dug deep.<\/p>\n

The Flames have struggled to go past preliminary rounds of the competition, having exited the 2017 edition at the same stage after losing 2-0 on aggregate to Madagascar. Malawi lost by 1-0 margins home and away.<\/p>\n

Under RVG, the Flames also struggled to score, having only managed two goals in five Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Mabvuto Kambuwe: eSwatini Coach Costa Papic has described Malawi national football team as a very good side that played as if it were at home in the 2020 African Nations Championship at Mavuso Sports Centre in Manzini. The match ended in a barren draw as Flames strikers Chiukepo Msowoya and Khuda Muyaba squandered numerous […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":77125,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77123","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\/77123","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=77123"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77123\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77126,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77123\/revisions\/77126"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}