FAM clarifies Flames squad revision
Football Association of Malawi (FAM) has revised the Flames squad after it discovered that the Chinese team they will face on January 28 to mark the official opening of Bingu National Stadium, is Guangzhou City Select side, Nation on Sunday has learnt.
Last week, FAM released a 29-man squad to face China, but yesterday the association announced a new squad that only has two players from the initial list.
The association’s general secretary Alfred Gunda explained that they were compelled to make the changes after learning that the team from China was not the senior team, the Dragons, but rather, a select side from Guangdong Province.
He further said the decision was also in line with the association’s plans to create a new pool of talented up-and-coming players who will be fused with the experienced ones ahead of the Flames’ busy schedule which includes 2018 Africa Nations Championship (Chan) and 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers and Cosafa Cup participation.
Gunda said: “We have three major tasks ahead if we include the Cosafa and looking at where we are coming from, we need to create a new crop of players for the senior national team. More than half of the players that we had called earlier have been in the Flames setup before.So we are replacing the regulars with under-23 players to be assessed for inclusion in the Chan and Afcon plans.
“Gerald and his assistant Deklerk Msakakuona are junior national team coaches (Under-20 and Under-17 respectively) so this platform will help complement their efforts of nurturing young talent for elite performance which they started with respective Cosafa assignments last year. We sincere apologise for the inconvenience caused by the review.”
Some of new faces in the revised squad are William Thole (Azam Tigers), Trever Kalema (PremierBet Wizards), Lughano Kayira, Luwandiko Mushane (Mzuzu University), Chisomo Mpachika, Binwell Kantinji (Silver Strikers), Lawrence Chaziya (Civo), Maneno Nyoni –(Big Bullets), Mike Nyondo (Silver Strikers), Rashasi Banda (Civo), Duncan Nyoni (Silver Strikers), Ben Manyozo, Jack Chiwona (Dwangwa United), Mphatso Zongolera (Epac FC), Simeon Singa, Isaac Mwale, (PremierBet Wizards), Gregory Nachipo (Blue Eagles) Hygiene Mwendepeka (Karonga United), Khumbo Msowoya (Karonga United). n
