National Sports

Mali sets Afcon plan

The Flames should be wary going into the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier in Mali on September 6 as the hosts have formed a special preparatory commission for the Group B game.

While the Flames have challenges in preparations, Mali Football Federation (Femafoot in French) has, according to www.malifoot.com, established a commission “for optimal preparations of qualifying for Afcon”.

Flames training in limbo due to funding hiccups
Flames training in limbo due to funding hiccups

Femafoot president Boubacar Diarra Baba heads the committee, which will be meeting every Monday, to ensure proper preparations of the Eagles during the qualifiers.

Femafoot deputy general manager Sire Diallo is the secretary of the commission whose other members are Boubary Kolon, Salalie Baby, Kassoum Coulibary, Abeta Seydou, Yacouba Traore, Sadia Asse and Moussa Kanoute.

By establishing the commission, Flames deputy coach Jack Chamangwana said it shows that Mali are more determined to qualify for next year’s Afcon finals in Morocco.

“We should have started training earlier as most of the home-based players were on break and it will be like a fresh start. We need a lot of home-based players who can handle the pressure, but we understand the problem is funding,” explained Chamangwana.

He added that it was important for the Flames to have its backbone of players drawn from the Super League, which has been on a recess for over three weeks, as there is no guarantee on the availability of foreign-based legion.

The Flames played Benin at home and away in the 2015 Morocco Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers without three key players such as Robert Ng’ambi and Atusaye Nyondo due to various reasons.

Limbikani Mzava and Frank ‘Gabadinho’ Mhango also missed the first leg of the second qualifying round in Benin as Bloemfontein Celtic were not obliged to release the duo since the game was outside Fifa calendar of events.

Top two teams and overall third best team will make it to Morocco. Flames last lost 3-1 to Mali at the 2010 Afcon finals in Angola.

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