Fired up Malawi squad land in Kenya, promises to dim hosts
The Malawian national team arrived in Nairobi on Wednesday for Saturday’s World Cup qualifier and promised to give Kenya a good game on Saturday.
Speaking after arrival, head coach Kinnah Phiri said his charges were looking forward to the clash.
“We are used to big games, small games and are relaxed. We have come to play and we are happy that we are starting away. Both teams will be looking for a good result but it’s all about football and we have to make sure we do our best and you can expect a good game from us.”
The Flames have beaten Kenya in their last two match ups at Cecafa Senior Challenge Cup winning 3-2 in 2010 and 2-0 last year but Phiri said that the past would not count for much on Saturday.
“In football, you don’t take things for granted. You always prepare properly and don’t underrate an opponent. Kenya is a good team and has good players as well. What we have done is to bring a very young team and make sure that the young players perform.”
He said they had left behind four key players including the skipper Peter Mponda and top scorer Chikuepo Msowoya, Elvis Kafoteka and Fischer Kondowe with Phiri keeping faith with youngsters.
“The four players could not keep up with the fitness of the youngsters so we left back home to get ready for the next matches because we have a very busy month with Nigeria and Chad coming up soon.”
Malawi played two friendly matches in the past week against Tanzania and Zanzibar as part of their preparations.
“We just wanted to acclimatise because the weather in Tanzania and here is almost the same. Also we wanted to combine some of our professionals with the local boys in a game to help fuse our team together.”
Group F consists of Namibia, Malawi, Kenya and Nigeria and the veteran coach is confident that they canprogress.
“It’s a fair group and we think we have a good chance. We are not afraid of Nigeria because we have played bigger teams and beaten them. The likes of Egypt and Ivory Coast and even beaten them so we are looking forward to welcoming the Super Eagles in Lilongwe next weekend.”
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