Blue Eagles star John ‘CJ’ Banda faces disciplinary action
Blue Eagles and Flames midfielder John ‘CJ’ Banda is to be taken to task for snubbing national team call up ahead of a friendly match against Zimbabwe scheduled for Saturday May 25th. 2013 and World Cup qualifying games against Kenya’s Harambee Stars and the Brave Warriors of Namibia.
Banda was included in the squad Flames coach released few weeks ago but the player turned down the offer on what he said were “personal” reasons.
While commenting on how the Flames have prepared ahead of Saturday’s friendly against Zimbabwe, Flames head Coach Edingtone Ng’onamo said Banda’s snub affected his plans.
Ng’onamo said the friendly against Zimbabwe could have been a better platform to assess CJ who stayed several months on the sidelines due to an injury.
“We wanted him to come and be assessed by our doctors to see whether he has fully recovered or not.
“I really wanted John Banda because he has been scoring in international games; he scored against Nigeria and Chad,” said the coach.
Banda has been impressive at his club despite claiming that he has not fully recovered.
Ng’onamo further said snubbing national duty is a disciplinary matter therefore Football Association of Malawi (FAM) might as well apply the rules.
“It is indeed a discipline issue; we have rules and regulations at FAM and we will see how the issue will be handled,” he said.
Meanwhile, the coach has revealed that he will sit down and discuss with the player as well as his club coach Deklerk Msakakuona.
