By Rabson WOODWELL
LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-The Malawi national football team (Flames) Coach Meck Mwase has described the group in which Malawi has been drawn into for the 2022 World Cup qualifiers as for growth and nothing else.
Mwase said this soon after the draw on Tuesday evening as it was happening in Egypt.
Malawi has been drawn against Ivory Coast, Cameroon, and Mozambique in group D.
The Coach has said that the Flames have been drawn in tough group in which Malawians should not really expect their team to qualify for next round also with the fact that only one team will proceed to the next round from the group.
“I know we have drawn with these teams in the past and even beating Mozambique at some point in time but honestly, this is a very tough group and it is really a huge challenge to us.
“In football anything can happen but we should know that it is not going to be easy because these teams that we have been drawn with are big teams in Africa and have a better experience as far as global and continental competitions are concerned.
“I would rather like to say this is the time that we should grow as a national team to be playing with such big teams and get used to be able to be competing at both continental and global levels.
“We will definitely use the group for our growth, our boys should mature to withstand the real football heat out there and my plea to Malawians is that they should support their team because anything can happen in a game of football,” Mwase said.
Many experts have also not given a chance to Malawi of sailing through or finishing top of the group considering that the teams they will play in the group may not lose at their yard and worse still beat the Flames in Malawi.
Promise Thom, a soccer analyst, feels Malawi is in the group of deaths. It is not a fair group for Malawi because all those teams in that group are more advanced than Malawi and it will really be an uphill for the Flames.
Thom said, “And with the fact that only one team from this group will got to the next stage, Malawi is at a disadvantage because I do not think that team can be Malawi. Honestly, we have a long way to go to compete at this level.
“However, I suggest we should start by prioritising the competitions like Council for Southern Africa Football Association (COSAFA), and Championship for African Nations (CHAN).”
And Thomas Muha, a soccer critique precisely says Malawi will not yield anything in this group and Malawians should not worst time expecting any result from this group. He says the group is very stiff and Ivory Coast and Cameroon have greater chances.
Only the top team will qualify to the final round which will comprise 10 teams.
The group stage qualifiers will run from October 2020 to October 2021.
The group winners will advance to the final two-legged, home and away knock out round in November when Africa’s five representatives in Qatar will be decided.
Below is the full 2022 World Cup groups;
