Malawi national football team deputy coach Gerald Phiri has expressed satisfaction with the squad in camp saying that it is fit enough to defeat Comoros in their African Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifier on Saturday at Bingu National Stadium.
Speaking during a press conference in Malawi’s capital Lilongwe, Phiri said Flames Head Coach Ronny Van Geneugden has assembled players who are promising to put a smile on Malawians’ faces by defeating Comoros on Saturday.
“We are very sure that the players that we have in camp will do a commendable job. So far we have two players from Mozambique Richard Chipuwa and John Banda. This is to mean that we are yet to have Charles Swini and Frank Banda from Mozambique, but we hope to have them in our subsequent preparations,” said Phiri.
On Robert Ng’ambi, the Flames deputy coach said it is not clear whether the South African based player will be available for the game or not due to an incident involving his wife in South Africa.
“We are concerned about Robert’s situation because he is an experienced player and we were sure that he would have performed on the pitch. We are yet to hear his side because currently he is not in South Africa. If he cannot manage to join the squad, we have his replacements who can do the job accordingly,” Phiri said.
Phiri also defended RVG’s failure to win any match in the CHAN saying that Belgian was scrutinizing players.
“During CHAN games, the coach was spotting players who can be featured in Flames. Our current squad is a total indication that coach had time to scrutinize players in their various football clubs.
“RVG has vision of developing football in the country. His criteria when selecting players is strange since he is not valuing the club one is coming from. He can even take a player from Premier Division as long as the player can do the job on the pitch,” he said.
This is a must win game for RVG as he is yet to register a win since being appointed Flames coach in April.
Earlier, Geneugden disclosed that the team did not perform as expected in the 2-0 aggregate loss to Madagascar due to lack of knowledge about Malawian players and tactics of playing football.
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