By Edwin Mbewe
LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-On Tuesday, afternoon, March 28, 2023 the Malawi national football team have time to make or break their future of qualifying 2023 TotalErnegies Africa Cup of Nations finals in Ivory Coast as are to clash against Egypt at Bingu National Stadium in the capital Lilongwe.
The match is coming four days after Flames suffered a 2-0 defeat at 23 June Stadium in the Capital Cairo, Egypt courtesy of Liverpool star Mohammad Salah at 20th minute in the first half and at 45th minute’ deflected goal by Omar Marmoush.
In Egypt, Mario Marinica’s side failed to make shots on goals as they managed only one off target and nil on target which the soccer fraternity in the country said the team approached the game with casual defensive minds which the head coach has declined.
“We did not go to Egypt to defend, that’s not our philosophy, yes its true we had no shot on target, the team struggled in the first half but came stronger in the second half, hence we will be looking forward to start from there”.
“Chances are still there for us to qualify to the finals even if we don’t get the much needed result on Tuesday because we have two more games to go, if we win those against Guinea and Ethiopia we will have 9 points that will be enough to take us to the finals though I am upbeat of getting a victory against Egypt “, Marinica said.
John Banda Flames captain said they will be opening a new chapter this afternoon and appealed to fans to turn up in large numbers to cheer the team.
“I am confident enough that we will do better in this match, we lost away not because we were afraid but we made several mistakes that have been rectified.
We haven’t boycotted training as some of reporters have reported, there are serious problems in the country to look after at this moment, we know the authorities will be going to sort out the issues of our allowances”, said Banda.
Rui Vitoria, head coach for Egypt said in a pre-match briefing that they anticipate a crucial game against Malawi but was optimistic of getting the maximum points.
“We believe in playing as a unit, yes having Mo Salah in the squad gives us the advantage but we are a team. My players are prepared and have the desire to win the match”, Vitoria said.
The Pharaohs of Egypt however will be looking forward to break the jinx of not winning in Malawi as they suffered a 1-0 loss in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers on 14 June 2008 at Kamuzu Stadium with the lone goal scored by Chiukepo Msowoya who missed the match in Egypt due to injury.
The two sides will be playing their game number 6, from the games Egypt have managed to defeat Malawi in 3 games, Flames managed to win in 1 game and the other one ended in a draw.
The previous 5 matches produced 10 goals of which 7 were scored by Egypt and Malawi scored 3.
Guinea are topping group D with 9 points from 4 games while Egypt are second with 6 points from 3 games, Malawi sits on position 3 with 3 points from 3 games, anchoring the table are Ethiopia with 3 points from 4 games.
