Malawi to play Zimbabwe’ in friendly: Flames drop 3 places in Fifa ranking
Malawi’s Flames are expected to launch a new lease of life without their mentor Kinnah Phiri with a possible friendly against Zimbabwe’s Warriors in three weeks time.
Football Association of Malawi (FAM) President Walter Nyamilandu confirmed having received a request from the Zimbabweans for an international friendly in Harare on February 6.
“They have indeed sent a request to host us for a friendly match on the 6th of February in Harare. We have taken up the matter with our sponsor, the ministry of sports, for feedback and approval so we are still waiting to hear from them,” Nyamilandu told Nyasa Times in an interview on Friday.
He said as FAM they were keen to make use of the February 6 which is a FIFA international friendly matches’ day to play the Zimbabwe Warriors but could not determine anything “as the matter is being handled at that higher level.”
Just like the Flames, the Warriors are also faced with a difficult task of assembling a competitive and winning outfit before resuming their faltering 2014 Brazil World Cup campaign with a tough assignment away to the Pharaohs of Egypt in March.
The coach-less Flames will travel to Windhoek to clash Namibia’s Brave Warriors in the Brazil World Cup African Zone qualifiers in March.
The new Warriors’ German Coach Klaus Dieter Pagels and his technical team are keen to use the match as a first step in rebuilding the team’s brand from the ashes of their failed 2013 African Cup of Nations campaign and the famous Asiagate scandal which resulted in Zimbabwe Football Association dissolving the entire national team last year.
The Warriors got off to a false start in the 2014 Brazil World Cup campaign under Rahman Gumbo, the former Malawi’s Mighty Wanderers’ coach, after losing 1-0 to Guinea at home and then featuring in a goalless draw against Mozambique in Maputo.
The Flames, who continue tumbling on Coca Cola FIFA rankings with the latest statistics positioning them on number 114 from 111, will be looking forward to start a fresh page after FAM last week fired Coach Kinnah Phiri who has led the team since 2008.
FAM is yet to replace the once revered coach who took the Flames to Angola 2010 Africa Cup of Nations for the first time in 26 years and nearly repeated the feat last year in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea when the team missed the ship with just seconds.
