Malawi National Football Team head coach Kalisto Pasuwa says the Flames will be looking for a positive response when they face Ethiopia in the second international friendly match on Tuesday.
The Flames lost the first match after conceding early, and Pasuwa believes the second encounter provides an important opportunity for the team to build confidence ahead of the upcoming AFCON qualifiers.
“Remember in our first game we lost, and in this second game we need to be positive. As we are going towards the qualifiers, we wanted to come up with results that can give the boys confidence,” said Pasuwa.
The coach said concentration remains one of the key areas the technical panel has been working on after Malawi conceded in the opening stages of the first match.
“The main worry has been concentration. The game starts and sometimes players think the game will start after 10 minutes, but these are international games where you need maximum concentration. That is why we conceded in the first seconds of the game,” he said.
Pasuwa also stressed the need for improved finishing, noting that the team created chances in the second half of the first encounter but failed to convert.
“It is a game where we need to be offensive. Like in the first game, in the second half we were creating chances, but in front of goal we made too many mistakes. We have tried to work on that and we hope tomorrow will be better and we will convert the chances,” said Pasuwa.
The Flames will be without Wisdom Mpinganjira, who also missed the first match due to a groin injury, while Robert Saizi has been ruled out due to illness.
Pasuwa confirmed that three quarters of the players who started the first match are expected to retain their places in Tuesday’s encounter.
