By Rabson WOODWELL
BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)-The Malawi National Football Team “the Flames” local based players started training at the Mpira Stadium on Tuesday morning in preparation for the back to back 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) Qualifying matches against Burkina Faso later this month.
Flames’ assistant Coach Lovemore Fazili said all the players have reported for training and their response on the first day was positive.
“It has been a very promising start looking at the positive performance of the boys considering that they are on off season. All the 31 players we called into camp are here and they are all fit,” said Fazili.
The Flames are expected to travel to Lusaka on Monday next week for a friendly match against Zambia on Wednesday March 11.
According to Fazili, playing Zambia in the testing match will help them identify the local players who are ready for the challenge to face Burkina Faso.
“The friendly match has come at the right time because we are playing a strong side and we hope that we will learn a number of things that will help us as we prepare for the Burkina Faso Match.
“We will use local based players during the friendly match and those who will perform well will stand a good chance of making the final squad alongside the foreign based players,” said Fazili.
Malawi will play Burkina Faso away in Ouagadougou on March 26, 2020 before hosting their opponents at the Kamuzu Stadium four days later.