Malawi face Mauritius on Wednesday

The Malawi national beach soccer team which left the country on Sunday for Seychelles for the inaugural Beach Soccer tournament will face Mauritius in their first game on Wednesday.

The team, which is expected to arrive today in Seychelles, will have a two-day rest before going into action in their first- ever international tournament.

Despite not having any experience on the international stage, coach Sterio Gondwe expressed confidence in the team he has assembled.

“We have a good team of talented players. We have watched video clips of how the sport is competed and we have trained to the best of our abilities. We have hope of doing well. We just need to be focused,” said Gondwe during a  news conference the team held at Angoni Lodge in Lilongwe before departure.

Captain Bothwell Saka was equally optimistic about causing an upset.

“The way we have been training we might just be the surprise team at the tournament. No team should write us off,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Information, Tourism and Culture has challenged the team to bring the cup home promising them a VVIP reception.

“We are very encouraged that we have national beach soccer team representing us at an international competition. We have always supported beach soccer. We feel we can use beach soccer as a platform to promote Malawi as a tourism destination,” said the ministry’s director of tourism Patricia Liabuba.

She said as a ministry they have taken advantage of this trip to use the players as ambassadors to promote Malawi.

“We have given them promotional material in the form of electric gadgets complete with videos of our most attraction sites so that they can show people there that we have a fresh lake which is more attractive than the salt oceans which most countries participating at the games use,”  she said.

FAM executive member James Mwenda is leading the team.