LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-Malawi national football team, the Flames ended the year on Fifa/Coca-Cola world ranking down with 23 steps, the worst year to register, Maravi Post has learnt
This is the lowest ranking the Flames has attained in the recent months, the rating, World football body released on Thursday.
Malawi has moved a step up from 126 to 125, their final ranking for the year. This however compounds the misery for the Flames who were in January this year ranked 102, having ascended two steps from their December 2016 ranking of 104.
The Flames even retained its 104 ranking in February before moving up a step in March, to sit 103 on the global ladder.
The team in the same year, in April, attained their best ranking of the year, climbing three places up into position 100.
However, things turned upside down in May, as the team plummeted 14 places down to 114. The worrying trend continued in June which saw the team languishing in position 117.
There was an improvement in July and August as the national football flag carriers, rose to 111 and then 106 respectively.
September brought back the downward spiral, with the team descending into position 116, then 117 a month later.
Eventually, came November with the worst ranking of the year, 126.
The development comes at a time when some soccer fans and pundits are beginning to lose faith in the Belgian mentor, Van Geneugden .
Under his tutelage, the team has played 12 games in all competitions, winning 2, losing four with 6 draws.
Malawi’s next 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying opponents, Morocco have moved 8 steps up to position 40 in the world while another team in the same group Cameroon have dropped by 3 places to position 45.
Their next competitive fixture could come in June 2018 in the regional showpiece, the COSAFA Senior Challenge Cup.
