By Edwin Mbewe
LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-The Malawi Under 17 National Football Team players have only this evening to make or break the job of their head coach Derklek Msakakuona as they face South Africa in the semifinals of the 2023 Algeria TotalErnegies U-17 AFCON| Cosafa qualifiers.
A win will see Malawi qualifying to the final of the AUSC region 5 Youth games which doubles as the qualifiers of the Algeria 2023 AFCON.
If Msakakuona’s boys manage to urge South Africa they will also automatically qualify to the Algeria junior continental Showpiece and the head coach’s job will be saved.
Weeks ago Football Association of Malawi (FAM) gave an ultimatum to the under 17 technical panel led by former Blue Eagles FC head coach Derklek Msakakuona to qualify the team to the finals of the African Cup of Nations or else face a chop.
Derklek Msakakuona has been in charge of the junior Flames for over 10 years now but is yet to bring medals to the Malawians.
Speaking in a preview interviews Msakakuona is ready for the battle against South Africa which is anticipated to kick off at 21:30 hours.
“We have prepared well for the battle, give them a chance, they will do the needful, in previous games the boys failed to utilize the chances including the set pieces which we have been tackling for the past two days”, Msakakuona said.
Malawi to reach the semifinals of the region 5 youth games equalled power with Botswana 2-2 before defeating Namibia.
They finished as group A leaders with 4 points.
If team Malawi wins this night against South Africa, they will face either Zambia or Botswana who meets in the first semifinals from 18:30hours at the magnificent Bingu National Stadium.
