Malawi National Football Team Head Coach, Kalisto Pasuwa said his charges are geared up for tomorrow’s African Championships qualifying game against Comoros as Malawi seek for maiden finals qualification.
Speaking during a press conference held at Bingu National Stadium, the newly appointed Zimbabwean gaffer said despite that the players were in off-season, they have been training well for the much-anticipated encounter.
“It [training] has been going well, it’s only, you know we were in pre-season where we had to manage the fitness level and the tactical part of it. But, yah, it’s coming up and all the guys are ready beside Chikumbutso Salima who is not going to be part of the squad due to injury.
“It’s very difficult to work with players as they coming from pre-season, but we need to find an answer to that. People are waiting for results out there. We need to work with the fitness level of the players to avoid injuries. However, we will see how best we can deal with it,” he said.
Malawi have won three of their last four games against Comoros in all competitions- two in Africa Cup of Nations and two in COSAFA Cup. Comoros beat Malawi 2-1 in the AFCON qualifiers in 2018 but Malawi won 2-0 in 2023 COSAFA, 2-1 in 2019 COSAFA and 1-0 in AFCON qualifiers in 2017.
Despite being labeled as favourites, Pasuwa has warned his charges against complacency saying Comoros are not a team to underrate because they have been playing together for so long now.
“We must not take Comoros as a team which people can just see by name, it’s a good team which has been playing together for so long by now. They are a team that have been playing with local players for so long. They play total football, it’s only few years ago that they started calling players from Europe,” he said.
Malawi National Team are yet to qualify for the final round of the Africa Championship in history.
Winning Sunday’s game will give the Flames an advantage ahead of the home game to be played next week at the same venue.
The winner of the two-legged tie will face either South Africa or Egypt who are also facing off in another playoff game.
“We may talk of history, we may talk of whatever might come on us, but first thing for us is to get the results on Sunday. Like I said, we are already on a minus because we are coming from pre-season. We are taking them back, it’s good for teams like [FCB Nyasa Big] Bullets, Silver [Strikers] had started their pre-season preparations and the players were in good shape.”
Captain Maxwell Paipi said the atmosphere in the camp is high as the players are eager to get the positive results on Sunday.
“As players, as National Team, we know what the Malawians are waiting for from us. We have been training well for the game and the morale is high in the camp. We are just calling for the Malawians to come and support us, we need them more in this game.
“The coordination has been good, this is a national team and we have an advantage because we have been using this Stadium for so long, yes, some of the players are new but I hope that we are ready to deliver,” he said.
