Malawi held 2-2 by China junior team
Malawi national football team, the Flames drew 2-2 with China Under-23 side on Wednesday in a friendly match played in China.
The Flames went to China to prepare for [2014] World Cup and [2013] Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers as well as the Cosafa Senior Challenge Cup.
In the match, the Flames were leading through goals scored courtesy of Mighty Wanderers genius midfielder Joseph ‘Shakira’ Kamwendo and Silver Strikers midfielder Frank Banda.
However, Flames coach Kinnah Phiri blamed fatigue on the out-come of the game.
“The result doesn’t matter because we wanted to access my players. Another problem is fatigue because these players travelled a long distance,” said Phiri.
But reports from China shows that the Flames struggled to contain the Chinese Juniors.
Commenting on the outcome of the game, The Nation newspaper sports analyst Peter Kanjere told MBC Mid Week Sports program that the Flames has an uphill task because a draw with an Chinese junior side was unacceptable.
“In football results matters. A draw is unacceptable when you play a junior side. We could have done better because most of the players we featured play in the senior side, you talk of Frank Banda, Joseph Kamwendo, Amadu Ali, Charles Swini even Ndaziona Chatsalira,” said Kanjere.
Kanjere also lamented that it was unfortunate to draw with a Chinese Junior side as Malawi prepare to face the likes of Nigeria and Kenya in June in the World Cup Qualifiers.
