Malawi used black jerseys in spirit of fair play, Angola arrived late

Malawi’s 3-0 win over the almost Under-20 Angola side in their opening match of this year’s Cosafa Cup in Namibia on Sunday is overshadowed by an embarrassment that some players’ jerseys were written ‘Malawi’ at the back but others were not.

This prompted people to go on social media to criticise Football Association of Malawi (Fam) for lack of attention to certain tiny details that can eventially translate into lack of seriousness on the part of the FA.

Most of the comments alluded to the fact that at such a high profile tournament, glamour is also paramount and jerseys play an important part to it.

Fam’ Commercial and Marketing Director,  Limbani Cliff  Matola explains that Angola arrived just few hours before kick-off and they even failed to attend pre- match meeting as is officially required where they were supposed to declare what colour of uniform they would use.

He said Angola normally use red jersey just like the Flames and being the home team, Malawi were at liberty to choose the colour of their choice.

Matola said according to leader of delegation, the Flames decided to use black colour jerseys instead of red in the spirit of fair play because, since Angola were not present at the pre-match meeting, they could use their red in case the Palancas Negras did not have a substitute.

“Unfortunately, the green jersey was still at the laundry which left the team with no choice but to use the training jersey which is black. And they didn’t have adequate time to take them to the printers to print Malawi at the back.

“And they had already communicated to the organisers that they would use black and therefore, given the circumstances, there was very little to remedy the situation. It must also be noted that this is not a crime that’s why the team was allowed to play.”

The Flames’ Gabadhinho Mhango struck three times as Malawi  defeated an almost Under-20 Angola side and  next assignment is against Mauritius on Tuesday.

By claiming the hat-trick, Gaba becomes not only the first Malawi player to net a hat-trick in the Cosafa Cup, but he is the first Malawian player to get more than one goal in a game.

Mhango got his first 22 minutes into the first half from a header which was deflected into the back of the net by an Angolan defender and struck his second mid-way the second half after a series of passes from Flame’s players.

He claimed his hat-trick from the penalty spot at the stroke of added time.