SOUTH Africa-based centre-back, Limbikani Mzava has described his appointment as Flames\u2019 captain as a huge challenge considering that the team\u2019s 2017 Africa Cup of Nations\u2019 bid is hanging by a thread.<\/p>\n
Flames\u2019 mentor, Ernest Mtawali, named the defender as the new captain, replacing long-serving, Joseph Kamwendo. The stylish midfielder\u2019s lack of game-time at Democratic Republic of Congo side, TP Mazembe, cost him the national team place.<\/p>\n
Speaking from his base in South Africa, Mzava said his appointment came as a surprise, but he is eager to lead the team.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe coach (Mtawali) had already informed me about this on Friday (before Saturday\u2019s press conference). He said I had the qualities of a captain and wants me to be encouraging fellow young players in the team. I wanted to turn it down bearing \u00a0in mind that it\u2019s coming at a time when people seem to have lost confidence in us, but I accepted it after the coach gave me the guidelines on how I can be a good captain,\u201d said Mzava.<\/p>\n
The former Bloemfontein Celtic defence pillar, who has been a key player for the national team for the past four years, added that he will strive to cement team work and discipline in the squad.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe advantage on my part is that I have been with the national team and learnt from the likes of retired captain Peter Mponda who was humble, but strict on discipline and instilled a spirit of hard-work amongst us. I have also learnt from Shakira (Joseph Kamwendo),\u201d Mzava said.<\/p>\n
The new Flames\u2019 skipper believes the team can revive their fading hopes if the players give their all during this weekend\u2019s crucial must-win game away to Swaziland in Mbabane.<\/p>\n
\u201cI must admit that we put ourselves in an awkward situation after that 2-1 defeat to Zimbabwe, but all is not lost because football \u00a0is dynamic,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Mzava reserved his comment on the dropped players, but backed the coach\u2019s decision to incorporate youthful players who were part of the Under-20 team that reached the third round of the African Youth Championship last year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SOUTH Africa-based centre-back, Limbikani Mzava has described his appointment as Flames\u2019 captain as a huge challenge considering that the team\u2019s 2017 Africa Cup of Nations\u2019 bid is hanging by a thread. Flames\u2019 mentor, Ernest Mtawali, named the defender as the new captain, replacing long-serving, Joseph Kamwendo. The stylish midfielder\u2019s lack of game-time at Democratic Republic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8097,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8094","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\/8094","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=8094"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8094\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8098,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8094\/revisions\/8098"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}