Goal drought Malawi out of Cosafa Cup: RVG happy with clean sheet

Malawi national football team completed a disappointing showcase at Cosafa tournament being held in South Africa with a goalless draw against Angola on Thursday.

It was an epic end to end dog fight that saw the Flames yet again putting up a brilliant performance but lacked the cutting edge in the attacking third to fashion out a goal.

The barren draw has left the Flames with the undesirable record of finishing the tournament with two points and without a goal as the strikers failed to score a goal in 270 minutes of the Group A which also comprises Mauritius and Tanzania.

With Tanzania who heralded bad news for Malawi with a surprise 2-0 win settling for a one-all draw against Mauritius the Flames have finished rock bottom with 2 points just as the island nation but have a better goal aggregate.

However the game offered a ray of hope for the Flames as they managed to attack, hold off pressure and got organized to recover from attack unlike in the opening match against Tanzania.

The only missing link in the team’s renaissance project under Belgian tactician Ronny van Geneugden is to be economical with scare goal scoring chances whenever they are available. This is what has made the RVG to take solace with the heartbreaking results the Flames have managed in the six games he has been in charge.

“I am happy with the boys. We are now defending,” he told Supersport television during post match interview.

“We made a lot of bad passes but Iam satisfied with the performance of the team especially in the first half. We were just not efficient enough upfront.”

Indeed he has to be proud of his charges having displayed a distinct brand of football not common among African countries.

The man of the match award Nyasa Big Bullets forward Dalitso Sailesi got against Mauritius and his club mate goalkeeper Ernest Kakhobwe for keeping Angolans at bay is a testimony that his charges are responding well to football diet he is feeding them. The starting line up; Kakhobwe, Francis Mulimbika, Peter Cholopi, Denis Chembezi, Stanley Sanudi, Chikoti Chirwa, Levison Maganizo, Dalitso Sailesi, Yamikani Chester, Jabulani Linje, Innocent Bokosi.