Ivory Coast names ‘experienced’ squad against ‘brave’ Malawi

The coach of Ivory Coast’s national football team, Vahid Halihodzic, has revealed an experienced squad to play Malawi on 10 October in the combined qualifiers of the African Cup of Nations and the World Cup 2010.

Malawi who host the crunch tie at Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre are already eliminated from the  next year’s South African World Cup but  are struggling for the second or third qualifying spot for the  African Cup of Nations finals, scheduled to take place in Angola.

The Elephants of Ivory Coast who are leading in the Group with 12 points, Burkina Faso has six points; Malawi is running neck-to-neck with Guinea for the third slot of the section.

Halihodzic included in-form Chelsea striker Didier Drogba whose potent combination of strength and poise was too much for Liverpool’s defenders on Sunday and allowed him to set up two goals for his club.

Drogba’s teammate Solomon Kalou and Portsmouth striker Aruna Dindane are also in the squad to play Malawi’s Flames.

Also named were Sevilla midfielder Didier Zokora and Barcelona star Yaya Toure.

Toure’s brother, Kore who has been rock solid at richest club, Manchester City is also in the squad and Arsenal’s Emmanuel Eboue.

Flames on the other hand will miss the services of their regular three defenders, left back Moses Chavula and right back Elvis Kafoteka who have been ruled out due to injuries.

The Malawi squad will also miss the key component in the holding midfielder Hellings Mwakasungula who is suspended for the match after accumulating two yellow cards.

However, Flames coach, Kinnah Phiri is upbeat that his charges will put a “brave fight” against the Elephants.

“It is an important match for Malawi and we will fight for the country. [At least] We should qualify for the African Cup finals,” said Kinnah.

Meanwhile, ticket prices have been hiked for the game against Ivory with the pen stand tickets at K500.00, covered stands at K5000, MBC stand ticket at K2, 500 and VIP K10, 000, according to Football Association of Malawi (FAM) Chief Executive Officer Charles Nyirenda.

FAM has also arranged a pre-sell of tickets of the 25,000 tickets on Friday at Kamuzu Stadium, FAM offices in Chiwembe and Blantyre Youth Centre.

In the capital city, Lilongwe the tickets will be available at Lilongwe Community Centre while for the northern region the selling point   will be Mzuzu Stadium.

 Email This Post