Malawi U-23 register first win in Belgium as Zambia bring 7 pros

Malawi Under 23 football national team on Tuesday registered their first win in one of their seven lined up training matches against Belgian clubs in readiness for their crucial 2019 Afcon qualifying back to back matches against neighbouring Zambia.

The Junior Flames on Monday suffered their second loss in their Belgium tour after going down 3-1 to Oud-Heverlee Leuven (OHL).

This followed another defeat by the same goal margin to STVV in the opening training match last week.

During Monday’s game, Nyasa big Bullets forward Mike Mkwate put the junior Flames ahead in the 7th minute to finish the first half in the lead before the home side rejuvinated to strike twice to take the lead in the second half.

However, it was Patrick Phiri who pulled Malawi back level before Hassan Kajoke sealed the Flames victory.

The friendly matches will continue later this week before Flames fly out to Egypt to play against Egypt Under 23 side before they return back home.

Meanwhile, Flames opponents in the Afcon qualifiers Zambia are leaving no stone unturned in their preparation against the Junior Flames.

The Junior Chipolopolo’s Egypt 2019 Africa Cup of Nations campaign is firmly in progress with assistant coach Bilton Musonda signalling that he will summon seven foreign based players for the March 20 first leg encounter away to Malawi.

Musonda told FAZfootball.com “that the technical bench will summon all the eligible and competitive players for the crucial encounter”.

He said that members of the 2017 Africa Cup Under-20 winning side will comprise the bulk of the under-23 squad.

Among the foreign players that are expected to join camp are the Austrian duo of Patson Daka and Enock Mwepu whose side is campaigning in the UEFA Europa League.

Others are Fashion Sakala (Oostende-Belgium), Edward Chilufya (IF Djurgardens-Sweden), Gampani Lungu (SuperSport United-RSA, Emmanuel Banda (AS Béziers-France) and Boston Muchindu who plies his trade in Portugal).

Zambia will be away to Malawi on March 20 before hosting the junior flames in Lusaka four days later.

Winner over the two legs will face either Burundi or Congo Brazzaville in the final qualifying round.

Eight teams will compete at the 2019 AFCON with top three teams automatically qualifying to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

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