The Malawi U17 national team technical panel will this weekend conduct a two-day national team talent identification exercise in Lilongwe to select a squad for national campaign ahead of the 2021 COSAFA Under 17 Championship.

About 91 players, who were selected during the regional exercise last month, are expected to battle it out to make it to the final 40-member squad.

According to Head Coach Deklerk Msakakuona, the 40 players will immediately go into a one-week training camp on Sunday.

“We had initially identified 88 players from the regions but we have three players who were selected from the Likoma district but failed to make it to Mzuzu during the regional exercise due to bad weather conditions on the lake so they will join their colleagues at national level.

“The players who will make it to the final 40 will remain in Lilongwe for a week-long training camp. We have taken advantage of the current school holiday to regroup the team for the first time.

“We have selected a young squad as we want to keep these players until next year for the AFCON qualifiers,” said Msakakuona.

The Junior Flames are expected to compete at this year’s Cosafa U-17 tournament which will be played as part of the Region 5 Games in Lesotho in December.

The team is expected to host the 2022 Region 5 games which will be used as the 2023 AFCON Youth Qualifiers.